Senate and House panels target Trump real estate, crypto, ICE raids and Medicare
About half of U.S. voters said government corruption was “crucial” to their vote for Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, and most of those voters backed the Democrat in their local House race, according to The AP Voter Poll, which surveyed more than 100,000 voters nationwide. About one-third of the corruption-focused voters said they voted Republican. Corruption topped the list of concerns for the voters who ousted Republicans and handed Democrats control of Congress, and the newly empowered party is putting the issue at the center of its plans for investigations and policymaking, with committee leaders naming potential targets that range from Trump’s real estate projects around the nation’s capital and cryptocurrency dealings to ICE raids and Medicare plans. President Donald Trump and his White House have long denied any wrongdoing.
Senior Democrats in both chambers have vowed to marshal the subpoena powers and larger investigative staffs that come with their soon-to-be majorities to probe what they say is self-enrichment by Trump and people in his orbit at the public’s expense.
The Senate is expected to conduct similar investigations. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who is expected to become chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said his panel will want to look into Trump’s real estate projects around the nation’s capital and his cryptocurrency dealings with special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff is a longtime Trump ally who partnered with the president on the president’s family cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial.
Blumenthal also wants hearings on ICE raids, the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency and Medicare plans he says are too restrictive and have cost some patients care. “The tentacles of corruption reach deep in this administration, and they have added costs to everyday Americans,” Blumenthal said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who is in line to become Senate Finance Committee chairman, ticked off several investigative targets that he describes as part of an “accountability” agenda, including banks that he contends ignored red flags about the financial dealings of Epstein and pharmaceutical companies that have profited from their ties to the Trump administration. “When I am chair, they will be forced to answer to the Senate Finance Committee for their role in hurting the American people and enabling Trump’s corruption,” Wyden said in a statement Wednesday.
In the House, Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda to look at how Trump and his family have become wealthier since he returned to office — and Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader in line to become House speaker, has not ruled out trying to impeach Trump for a third time.
Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, said he wants to dig into Trump’s White House ballroom and other construction projects, as well as the Trump family’s role in mineral deals. With the House majority comes an infusion of congressional committee staff and resources, and the effort is expected to be sprawling, involving House committees with authority to conduct oversight on Cabinet officials and the agencies they lead.
Months ago, Jeffries tasked the ranking Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees — Rep. Robert Garcia of California and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland — with leading the effort, as Democrats work to link the costs of public corruption to the affordability concerns hitting Americans’ pocketbooks. Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has outlined five priorities, including Trump family business dealings, the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. “Lawyer up,” Garcia posted on X as election results favoring Democrats began coming in Tuesday night.
The poll found that many U.S. voters in Tuesday’s elections expressed deep concerns about government corruption and the state of democracy. Roughly 4 in 10 voters named the economy the top issue facing the country, while about 3 in 10 chose “the state of democracy.” Among voters who picked democracy as the top issue, about 8 in 10 supported the Democrat and about 2 in 10 supported the Republican. Voters age 65 or older were more likely than voters under 65 to call the state of democracy the nation’s most important issue: about 4 in 10 older voters pointed to it, compared with about 3 in 10 who said the economy. Among younger voters, that view reversed — they were more likely to call the economy the top issue.
The numbers help explain why anti-corruption played such a central role in Democratic campaigns this cycle, with candidates accusing their Republican opponents of looking out for themselves or their donors rather than a broader constituency. Candidates embraced stock trading bans and bans on former members of Congress becoming lobbyists, and promised to be part of an effort to root out corruption.
Trump has taken a conciliatory tone toward Democrats in his public comments since his party lost the elections, conceding that they “did a good job” in their campaigns — a tone The Associated Press characterized as an effort to skirt personal blame for the GOP’s midterm losses. That could change as investigations ramp up. “As the president has said, he’s willing to work with anyone to continue delivering victories for hardworking Americans,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Wednesday. “If Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people,” Bis said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is poised to return as Senate majority leader next year, insisted congressional Democrats will be able to balance legislating on key issues such as affordability while launching investigations to target what he called “rampant corruption.” “Americans want us to clean up corruption in government,” Schumer said. “No American should have to make tradeoffs at the supermarket while Trump is making inside trades on the stock market.”
In a letter to Democratic lawmakers announcing his candidacy for House speaker, Jeffries said the “days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over.” “The massive corruption the country has experienced from the Trump Cartel explains why very little is getting done to help everyday Americans,” Jeffries wrote as he promised to target price gouging and push for a stock trading ban for lawmakers. “That changes immediately,” he added.
The Congressional Integrity Project, an advocacy group initially created to combat Republican investigations into President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, is now shifting its focus to help Democratic lawmakers tie corruption to the affordability issues that have topped voters’ concerns. In a memo, the group urged congressional Democrats to trace the Trump administration’s actions to people in and outside government, as well as corporations, who may be profiting from those moves. “Corruption is not just corruption,” said the group’s senior adviser, Jack Miller. “It is costing taxpayers and costing Americans in their everyday lives.”
Some Democratic lawmakers are already stressing that congressional investigations have to be directly tied to affordability issues while urging restraint. Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said Democrats need to earn voters’ trust, and that while investigations are an important part of the Democratic agenda, “we can’t turn this into just a vengeance tour.” “We have to be careful, cautious and judicious about that,” Welch said.
The announcements establish an oversight agenda rather than findings: committees have identified potential targets, and Democratic leaders have said they will pair the probes with affordability work while warning members about their scope. The challenge for Democrats will be to continue to tie corruption to the affordability issues that topped the list of concerns for voters.