Democrats are planning to use their new congressional majority to open investigations into President Trump's family businesses and any private company that worked with his administration — and the man who will lead the charge is already being sued for defamation by a billionaire he smeared on television.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the incoming House Oversight Committee chairman, told Punchbowl News that Democrats will come after what he called "Trump crypto schemes" and look into family members who are "sitting on boards and getting contracts." His one-word warning to targets: "Lawyer up."
This is the third-world playbook: win an election, then turn the state's investigative apparatus on the losing side's businesses. The same people who spent years rending garments over democratic "norms" now plan to subpoena, expose, and harass private companies for the crime of doing business with an administration they opposed. Rep. Jamie Raskin, poised to chair the Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Sun he will "go after the private corporations that are collaborating in all the lawlessness with Donald Trump" and target law firms that have "capitulated" to the administration. Senior Democratic staffers have already assembled a 181-page dossier identifying companies and executives to target once they take power, according to The Post Millennial.
The centerpiece of the crypto investigation is World Liberty Financial, the Trump-family-linked firm founded in 2024. Democrats are focused on the 49 percent stake purchased by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE national security advisor, shortly before the January 2025 inauguration, per Bitcoin Magazine. WLF is currently seeking a federal trust bank charter for its USD1 stablecoin. Democrats also plan to target Trump's October 2025 pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who helped launch USD1.
What makes this more remarkable is that Garcia, the man Democrats are putting point on oversight, is currently being sued for $7.5 million by billionaire Leon Black over comments Garcia made about Black's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. According to The Guardian, Black's lawsuit alleges that Garcia "went on national television and lied to the American people" by claiming Black was "at the center of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes" and that survivors had "credibly named Leon Black as someone that was involved in direct abuse of women." Black denies all wrongdoing and says Garcia knew the statements were false. The Speech or Debate clause shields lawmakers for comments made in legislative proceedings — but not for what they say on cable news.
Garcia, in other words, is a man who couldn't keep his mouth within the bounds of truth on national television about a private citizen. Now he will have subpoena power over an administration's business partners. Raskin told the New York Times he plans to target pardons, public contracts, and the Trump family's cryptocurrency ventures.
The crypto industry spent over $200 million trying to influence the midterms, The Post Millennial reported. Democrats have historically been hostile to the sector. Now they plan to regulate it by investigating their political enemy's stake in it.
The question isn't whether Congress has oversight authority. It does. The question is whether a party that built a 181-page enemies list before even being sworn in is conducting oversight — or waging political war through government power. The men leading the charge have already shown how they handle that power when the cameras are on.
