In the wake of the massive repudiation of Trump and the Republicans, you can expect them to indulge in all manner of shenanigans to rush through as much of their policies as possible before the new Democratic-led congress is sworn in on January 3. But the old congress goes on a Christmas recess December 18-31 so effectively, the old congress ends on December 17, though the leaders of the chambers can bring them back into session for the rest of the year.
Some of Trump’s most vicious enablers are expected to make quick getaways before congressional investigations rain down on them for their rampant corruption and abuses and the various committees issue subpoenas for them to appear and explain their actions. Up to now, the Republican committee chairs and majorities in congress had blocked any serious attempts to check their excesses.
Already Robert Garcia, who is expected to be the next chair of the powerful house oversight committee, has issued a terse warning to Trump officials.
Robert Garcia, the Democratic congressman set to become the next chair of the oversight committee of the House of Representatives, had two words for Republicans on Tuesday evening: “Lawyer up.”
The House oversight committee serves as a “watchdog” committee and has broad authority to call witnesses, request government documents and issue subpoenas.
Garcia has previously said that, if Democrats won, he would lead investigations into Elon Musk’s role in the “department of government efficiency (Doge)”, the Trump family’s business dealings, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abuses and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
“We’re not starting from scratch here,” Garcia previously told Punchbowl News. “There’s an enormous amount of work that has happened that is public, and there’s an enormous amount of work that’s happened that we’ve been quietly working on for many months.”
…Ron Wyden, the Democratic senator poised to lead the Senate finance committee, also flexed on his potential future authority. “Subpoenas,” Wyden wrote on X.
With the Senate and House back in Democrats’ control, Garcia, Wyden and other congressional leaders will be able to lead and steer investigations into the US president, his allies and agenda.
“We have the power to go to the courts on behalf of the House. We have the power of contempt, and not just criminal contempt, but civil contempt that goes to the courts. We have the power of subpoena,” Garcia told Punchbowl News.
Other reports spelled out more potential investigations.
Garcia’s team indicated it would be investigating “The Trump Crime Family, Crony corporations ripping off the American people, Corrupt Trump admin officials profiting off the presidency, Associates of Jeffrey Epstein” and then specifically called out Corey Lewandowski, who stands accused of funneling contracts at the Department of Homeland Security to allies.
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Wednesday issued a job posting for new oversight, investigative and legislative counsel.
“House Judiciary Democrats are prepared to put an end to the rampant and out-of-control corruption overflowing the Trump swamp,” the committee wrote Wednesday on social platform X.
“Through investigations and legislation we will work to expose, counter and dismantle the grift and the graft, the ongoing corruption of government and the outrageous destruction of the rule of law. We will be unflinching in our defense of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”
And House Homeland Security Committee Democrats told Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to “clear your calendar.”
The first out of the gate to try and flee is Harmeet Dhillon, who made a mockery of the traditional mission of the civil rights division of the justice department, whose departure was announced yesterday by attorney general Todd Blanche.
Dhillon dramatically transformed the civil rights division in a little over a year and a half there, reorienting its mission away from the work it had traditionally done protecting the civil rights of minorities. Under her leadership, the department dropped many cases alleging discrimination against racial minorities in voting, housing, employment and education. Scores of career lawyers also left the division under her leadership, leading to an exodus of expertise of civil rights enforcement.
Dhillon aggressively pursued claims of discrimination at universities, including claims that minorities were unfairly favored in admissions and claims of antisemitism against Jewish students. A whistleblower has said that investigations into the schools were conducted with a predetermined outcome and that lawyers were told to find a reason to file a lawsuit.
The civil rights division also oversaw investigations into the killing of US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents in Minnesota during an immigration enforcement surge – neither has resulted in criminal charges.
“From day one, Harmeet Dhillon abdicated her responsibility to enforce our nation’s federal civil rights laws and destroyed the crown jewel of the justice department,” said Kristen Clarke, who led the civil rights division under Joe Biden and is now general counsel at the NAACP.
“Instead of protecting the civil rights of all Americans, she abandoned cases, purged the work force and weaponized the division to target institutions to achieve illegitimate, partisan goals.”
The division also had some high-profile failures under Dhillon’s watch. It sued more than two dozen states for voter roll information and lost every single case. Several of the judges who ruled against the department were appointed by Donald Trump,
“Harmeet Dhillon has been the most destructive, lawless and hateful head of the civil rights division in DoJ history,” said Stacey Young, a former civil rights division lawyer who now leads the group Justice Connection, a group for justice department alumni.
Then earlier today, two other top justice department officials also resigned.
There are rumors swirling around of others seeking exits. One is that Marco Rubio is eying leaving, no doubt to create some distance from Trump for his expected attempt to win the Republican nomination for president in 2028. His main rival JD Vance has no choice but to stay with Trump though he issued a lengthy tweet blaming the Republican losses on the Iran war. That is a facile self-serving explanation since that is the one issue he thinks can try to evade complicity with. The fact is that the loss was a repudiation of Trumpism in general and he has been an enthusiastic warrior in that unpopular cause.
Another rumor is that Pete Hegseth, who thinks he might be impeached, is also planning an exit strategy based on getting himself appointed to the senate seat in Tennessee that is currently held by Marsha Blackburn who just won election as governor. He could wait until she is sworn in as governor on January 16 and have her appoint him. Or Blackburn could resign her senate seat before that and the current Republican governor of Tennessee could appoint Hegseth to fill the vacancy. In either case, he would hold the senate seat until the end of her scheduled term in 2030.
Then there are the rumors about the US Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas (78) and Sam Alito (76) are the two oldest members of the court. They are also the most partisan right wingers. If they leave after the new congress is sworn in, the Democratic majority in the senate will be able to block any Trump nominee who is as extremely right wing. So one plan is for either one or both to resign immediately and then the current Senate can quickly approve their replacements. It would be one of the most shamelessly partisan moves in court history, exceeding even Mitch McConnell holding up Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. Obama nominated him in March 2016 after Antonin Scalia died but McConnell, then the senate majority leader, refused to bring the nomination to the senate. Garland’s nomination expired when that congress ended. After Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, he nominated Neil Gorsuch who was then confirmed.
On the other hand, Thomas and Alito seem to love being on the court and pushing their rightwing agenda and they may try to hold on until 2028 and hope that a new congress might be more open to having a new Republican president nominate replacements like them. This is a long shot strategy and would collapse if Democrats win the presidency in 2028 so Republicans might try to pressure them to leave sooner.
Trump and the Republicans are also trying to squeeze as many judicial confirmations as possible before the new Democratic majority takes office on January 3.
Whether these rumors have any validity is not known. What is clear is that Trump and the Republicans are capable of trying anything to hold on to the remaining shreds of their power.
Hmmmmmmm. The name Jack Smith comes to mind.
With regards to the Supreme Court, there was a post on Lawyers, Guns, & Money today called A new type of constitutional hardball, in which somebody associated with the SCOTUSblog has apparently pointed out that there is, in fact, no legal requirement that a vacancy exist before before confirmation hearings are held. So in theory the Republicans could hold confirmation hearings how while they have the majority and have pre-confirmed replacements just waiting for Trump’s signature the moment a vacancy opens.
This is another one of those many things where there was never a legal protection against these sorts of corrupt shenanigans, just a reliance on political norms that nobody would ever be that brazen. An assumption which is obviously several years in the rear-view mirror at this point, and an assumption that was fundamentally the biggest problem with Biden’s time as president.
That’s just going to be for the spectacle of it because they can only investigate. The DOJ won’t prosecute and Trump may well pardon everyone so the next administration won’t be able to prosecute either. The only exception would be if some crimes found are also state crimes then some states may decide to prosecute and Trump can’t do a thing to prevent it.
“Pete Hegseth, who thinks he might be impeached, is also planning an exit strategy based on getting himself appointed to the senate seat in Tennessee that is currently held by Marsha Blackburn who just won election as governor.”
This is almost certainly not happening. It appears he hatched this plan without consulting Blackburn, who later said she’s not going to do that.
It’s also worth the reminder that you can impeach and remove those out of office and there’s no time limit; doing so would bar them from taking any Federal positions and sever any government benefits they’re entitled to as a result of their previous position(s). Not to mention that it would send a message. It’s probably only worth impeaching a few high-profile figures and going after the others with the courts, the ones Trump doesn’t pardon anyway. The Supreme Court only said that the President is largely immune to prosecution, not anyone else.
SCOTUS: Absolutely no conservative judge once the Senate has a Dem majority.
If Moscow Mitch could refuse to appoint new judges, so can the Dems.
Wait until 2028 and ram liberal or progressive judges down the Republican throats.
Payback is a bitch.
And if Schumer thinks that is going too far, that is reason # 1 million to replace him.
@birgerjohansson #5:
“If Moscow Mitch could refuse to appoint new judges, so can the Dems.” If this happens less than a year before the 2028 elections, they’d need a new excuse to complain, because the “exception” which “allowed” them to do that during the last year of the Obama administration is in play, and the “exception to the exception” which “forbid” the seat from being kept open the last year of the previous Trump administration isn’t in play. I’d wonder what they’d come up with for the “exception to the exception to the exception”, but as that’s getting too complicated for the typical conservative I suspect they’d just whine about general unfairness while insisting that whatever they did in the past doesn’t matter to the present.
But as the 2028 election is *two* years away, if they try to swap out Justices during 2027 then they can use the excuse that it’s not close enough to the election for such shenanigans to be valid. And sadly, Democrats would probably go along with it, due to the fact that the majority of them (and a lot of their voters) still care a lot about respectability, and keeping the seat(s) open for over a year could actually cost them big in 2028.