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WASHINGTON — <\/span>House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda, with investigations of President Donald Trump<\/a>, his family and his administration if the party sweeps control of the chamber from Republicans in the November elections.<\/a><\/p>\n The undertaking is as robust as it is daunting, spanning several House committees. With majority power comes bigger budgets and staff, and the ability to investigate, subpoena and potentially course-correct what the Democrats say are widespread corruption and abuses of power. Impeachment of the Republican president<\/a> and Cabinet officials is not off the table.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a cost to the American people of the out-of-control corruption,\u201d said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control at the Capitol.<\/p>\n \u201cIf folks have been stealing from the American people, shortchanging the American people or screwing over the American people,\u201d Jeffries said, \u201cwe are going to hold the crooks accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n Congress has enormous ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch as part of its power as a coequal branch of government, and a road map for the Democratic-run investigations has already been set by the almost daily letters lawmakers send to the administration and in amicus court filings. <\/p>\n Democrats are asking about the money-making<\/a> by Trump and his family, whose wealth has grown dramatically since he returned to the White House in January 2025. They are investigating the potential civil rights violations of Americans killed<\/a> protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and of detained immigrants being deported to faraway countries<\/a>. They have fought the closing of the Kennedy Center<\/a>, launched investigations into private funding<\/a> of the America at 250 celebrations and tracked the shuttering of federal operations, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.<\/a><\/p>\n New questions emerge daily, including the Trump family\u2019s recent acknowledgment<\/a> that a weekend wedding party for the president\u2019s son Donald Trump Jr. was partly funded by a Russian oligarch<\/a>, with reportedly close ties to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is in line to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, characterized the issues involved as \u201cgargantuan.” <\/p>\n \u201cWe need to zero in quickly on the forms of systemic corruption that have cost the public huge amounts of money,” Raskin told The Associated Press, \u201cand where there are legislative cures available.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeffries will almost certainly be under pressure from the far left to move more swiftly to articles of impeachment against Trump, who during his first became the first president to be twice impeached<\/a> by the House. Both times<\/a>, he was acquitted by the Senate.<\/p>\n Impeaching the president a third time may not hold the currency that it once did. Democrats will more likely focus their impeachment efforts on Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> already faces articles of impeachment<\/a> from a Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky<\/a>, over his leadership at the Pentagon and his management of the Iran war.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t ruled anything out,\u201d Jeffries said recently about the tools available to Congress, \u201cand we haven\u2019t ruled anything in.\u201d <\/p>\n The White House is likely to play hardball if confronted with investigations, and Democrats are bracing for an administration that potentially ignores subpoenas or refuses to turn over paperwork that lawmakers are demanding. <\/p>\n The Democrats are also reaching beyond the administration into various corporate and business entities for potential wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Ranking Democratic lawmakers who are in line to lead committees if power shifts are beginning to chart the investigations they plan to tackle.<\/p>\n Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat now on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has outlined five priorities, including Trump family business dealings<\/a>, the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> investigation and ICE operations.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re already doing work,\u201d Garcia told the AP.<\/p>\n He also mentioned the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>, as well as broader allegations of corporate corruption.<\/p>\n The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, whose jurisdiction includes the State Department, said the committee plans to investigate Trump’s international dealings, including around the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n He expects the committee will also look into the administration’s Venezuela operations<\/a> \u2014 from the military strikes<\/a> on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific waters to the U.S. partnership with a private company<\/a> to develop and access the South American country’s oil.<\/p>\n Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat at the Natural Resources Committee, which overseas the Interior Department and its National Park Service operations, has begun digging into Trump’s \u201cvanity projects,\u201d including the demolition of the White House’s East wing for a new ballroom<\/a> and the president’s proposed arch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Huffman and other committee members have also been eyeing the Trump family’s role in various minerals deals.<\/p>\n At the committee’s last session before lawmakers recessed to campaign for the midterm elections, Huffman said that if Democrats take charge, he plans to call witnesses, put them under oath and follow the evidence where it leads.<\/p>\n “When people ask what will we do,” he said he responds, \u201cMy answer is simple. We\u2019ll use those tools. We\u2019ll act like the Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n