Next week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are poised to question members of the Trump administration about the dangerous rise in white nationalist violence.
Just last weekend, a man slaughtered dozens of people in El Paso, Texas, after citing an "invasion" on the Southwest border.
In addition to questioning senior national security officials about the rise in white nationalism violence, they also plan to ask them whether they think President Donald Trump is instigating violent acts with his rhetoric, reports Greg Sargent in the Washington Post.
"A series of mass shootings carried out by deranged men animated by white nationalist ideology — along with the arrests of others allegedly hellbent on carrying out their own carnage — has raised two critical questions," Sargent writes.
"First, does the Trump administration have a comprehensive plan to combat the rising threat of white supremacist and white nationalist terrorism?" he says.
"And second, to what degree does President Trump’s regular trafficking in racist and white nationalist language and tropes — and his tacit winking at such activity — fuel the threat?"
Sargent spoke with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who told him that Democrats intend to probe whether national security officials who work for Trump think his rhetoric is dangerous.
"The threat has grown tremendously,” Raskin told Sargent. “We want to find out from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI what are their strategies and tactics for identifying and preempting white supremacist-inspired violence. We want to know that there is a plan.”