Last week, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice warned that when Democrats take back power, they would not look kindly on corporations, law firms, universities, and media groups who “bent the knee” to President Donald Trump. Rice said:
There will be an accountability agenda. You know, companies already are starting to hear they better preserve their documents, they better be ready for subpoenas. If they’ve done something wrong, they’ll be held accountable….But you know, this is not going to be an instance of, you know, forgive and forget. The damage that these people are doing is too severe to the American people and to our national interest.
But according to Semafor‘s Nicholas Wu, top Democrats, anticipating a win in the House this November, are already mapping out their 2027 agenda — and it sounds a lot like what Rice outlined last week.
Following interviews with Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia (CA) and Jamie Raskin (MD), and Sen. Reuben Gallego (D-AZ) this week, Wu reported that Democrats are “weighing how harshly they would go after corporations that have courted President Donald Trump’s approval.”
The lawmakers told Wu that, ahead of a Democratic win, corporations are already preparing for “a flurry of subpoenas and information requests.”
Judiciary Committee Democrats have sent missives since last year to Paramount, Hewlett-Packard and Alphabet, and Oversight Committee Democrats have homed in on fundraising for the White House’s ballroom renovation.
Garcia, currently the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, told Semafor that “he would focus on alleged corruption in the Trump administration, Jeffrey Epstein, immigration enforcement, and even cost-of-living issues. He said his office has already contacted some corporations about a future investigative agenda.”
Garcia said, “There’s opportunities to look at not just corporations that we think are enabling some of Trump’s corruption, but certainly corporations that are not supporting American families and not really focusing on affordability.”
Raskin, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, told Wu he will investigate “potential violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which forbids the president from receiving gifts from foreign governments or US taxpayers.”
The truth-challenged congressman continued, “The cardinal, original sin of Trump was to decide that he was going to use the presidency as a profit-making enterprise in his first term, and I would say that Congress should have impeached him for receiving millions and millions of dollars from foreign governments.”
Gallego proved the most bellicose, issuing the most serious threats, telling Semafor:
Once we take power, whoever the president is, we’re going to break up your companies. So all the investment you did to create these mergers are going to be for naught. Your investors are going to be pissed at you, and you’re likely going to end up getting fired as the CEO because you wasted so much money and corrupted yourself in the process.
Gallego has always been a bit of a blowhard, but this remark sounds downright fascist.
Reactions to Gallego’s remarks on social media were largely negative. Here are a few:
At any rate, it wasn’t long before another Democrat, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, joined the fray. Responding to news that Netflix had dropped its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, he wrote: “Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates. All of them.”
Democrats have spent the past decade telling anyone who will listen that Trump is a fascist. Do they not understand that they are the ones who are proposing fascist initiatives?
Do they even hear themselves?
This is the same Chris Murphy who’s gotten cozy with Alex Soros.
It’s fair to ask whether there is room in their agenda for productive governance. The last time Democrats regained the majority, the chamber was defined largely by investigations into President Trump.
Wu contacted other Democratic lawmakers about their plans if they win back the majority, but said they were reluctant to discuss specific legislative priorities publicly before the election.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), the third-ranking House Democrat, took a less adversarial approach. While agreeing that the party would conduct oversight and accountability, he acknowledged that they will “have to talk about the affordability agenda, how we’re going to make life better for people if we are given the opportunity to lead, and if we’re given the opportunity to govern.”
Wu noted that House Democrats have told him they would like to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. But few have spoken to him about plans to impeach Trump. First, at least for now, they lack the votes to convict Trump in the Senate, and second, he will leave office two years after they win back the House (if they win back the House) and is not eligible to run for reelection.
Wu offered his personal view on the issue: “They faced bruising internal battles over their Trump-focused probes in the leadup to his first impeachment in 2019, and they’ll face difficult choices over where to train their investigative tools this time around, too.”
“Democrats may bite off more than they can chew by kicking off a host of investigations should they win the House back,” he added.
Ultimately, all of their plans hinge on actually winning back the House. Although the political landscape appears favorable, victory is by no means assured — particularly now that Trump has gone on the offensive — and Democrats are handing him new ammunition on a daily basis.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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