MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The White House is firing a warning shot at Democrats who plan to investigate the Trump administration, asserting those plans could cross the line into, quote, "blatant criminality."
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It's the Trump administration's latest maneuver ahead of Democrats taking control of Congress next year.
MARTIN: NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith has been following this, and she's got more now. Good morning, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So tell us about this warning from the White House. What did they say?
KEITH: Yeah. It came in a letter from White House counsel Will Scharf to Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia, who is expected to lead the House Oversight Committee next year. And in this letter, Scharf says the administration is monitoring, quote, "abusive and capricious threats" made by Democrats. And then I just want to read you the last line of the letter. He writes, (reading) the administration will not be extorted and will not be cowed by unlawful process motivated by animus, pettiness, hatred or any other unlawful motive to intimidate, penalize or interfere with the lawful functioning of government.
MARTIN: OK. That's interesting, I mean, coming from an administration that I would say many people believe has used the levers of government to try to punish political enemies. So just saying that that's kind of the context here. So how are Democrats responding to that?
KEITH: Yeah. Congressman Garcia said Congress has wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight. And he said Democrats will not be deterred by threats from the Department of Justice or the president's lawyers. And I'll just note that last year, the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee conducted an investigation of former President Biden's use of an autopen. So there's a history of Congress taking a broad view of its oversight role.
MARTIN: Do we have any understanding of what is behind this letter from the White House?
KEITH: You know, it's part of a larger pattern in social media posts over the weekend. President Trump complained about what he called threats from Democratic lawmakers directed towards Republicans, members of his administration and donors. The president wrote that, quote, "these sleazebags should go to jail for what they are doing." And then over the weekend, Attorney General Todd Blanche on CNN didn't rule out his own investigations or prosecutions.
MARTIN: Is there any legal basis for what the administration thinks it can do? And I guess the question is, are these arguments going to - are they likely to work?
KEITH: Yeah. They might buy time and force Democrats to go to court to enforce their subpoenas. This is how Ty Cobb, who was a White House lawyer in the first Trump term, put it when I gave him a call.
TY COBB: They're putting up speed bumps in front of the steamroller that they can see coming. They're going to do their best to prolong all these battles and refuse to provide information.
KEITH: But he says Congress has a lot of protections under the Speech and Debate Clause. And in his view, there are plenty of things to investigate and legislate.
MARTIN: That's NPR Tamara Keith. Tam, thank you.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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