The White House’s top lawyer sent a letter of warning to incoming House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., on Wednesday, claiming that the Democrats’ promise to investigate the Trump administration “may cross the line into blatant criminality.”
White House counsel William Scharf wrote Garcia a three-page letter to “remind” him of the constitutional limits of congressional investigations, “which you and members of the new Congress have evinced a clear intent to transgress.”
The letter, obtained by PBS News, accuses Democrats of “abusive and capricious threats” against President Donald Trump and members of his administration.
Read the full letter by clicking the image below.
On election night, after projections showed Democrats would control the House of Representatives in the incoming Congress, Garcia addressed the Trump administration with a two-word statement: “Lawyer up.”
WATCH: Rep. Garcia says voters gave Democrats a mandate to pursue accountability
On the PBS News Hour last week, White House correspondent Liz Landers asked Garcia whether he felt voters gave Democrats a mandate to investigate the Trump administration.
“I think they have,” Garcia said.
“The American public are looking at their own bills and seeing costs go up when they go to the supermarket, yet they’re seeing the Trumps get richer. And so that’s a real contrast, and that’s a real issue for us to take on,” he added later in the interview.
WATCH: Trump’s $2B income in 2025 raises fresh questions about profiting off presidency
Garcia hasn’t dropped that sentiment after Scharf’s letter.
“It appears Donald Trump has something to hide,” Garcia said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are a co-equal branch of government and will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized DOJ or from the President’s lawyers.”
