House Democrats are planning to issue a slew of subpoenas to investigate President Donald Trump, his administration, his business and his campaign -- and things could get confusing.
The newly seated majority intends to examine acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, former Interior Department head Ryan Zinke and former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, as well as seeking information about the president's policies and business practices, reported Politico.
“I joked for a while — but it’s not funny anymore — I said we’re going to have to build an air traffic control tower to keep track of all the subpoenas flying from here to the White House,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), chairman of the House Budget Committee. “So yeah, it could be brutal.”
The lawmakers plan to investigate what they see as "gross abuses from agency heads," and they said Republicans have given Trump and his Cabinet officials a pass on unethical behavior in office.
“Over the last two years President Trump set the tone from the top in his administration that behaving ethically and complying with the law is optional,” said House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD). “We’re better than that.”
As many as five House committees could examine DeVos and her rollback of for-profit college regulations, slow processing of student loan forgiveness and rewriting campus sexual assault policies.
Lawmakers also plan to determine whether Whitaker's appointment was legal, and they want to examine his role in overseeing the special counsel probe of Russian election interference.