As the 2026 midterm elections fast approach, and with assessments suggesting a potentially strong performance from Democrats, a number of top Trump administration officials may resign in an effort to avoid being “slapped with subpoenas” from a Democrat-controlled Congress, political analyst and journalist Jason Easley argued Sunday in an analysis.
“Suppose Democrats win control of Congress and the presidency in 2028,” Easley wrote on PoliticusUSA, a left-leaning news website.
“In that case, the next Democratic president will have to make fixing the damage Trump has done to the country and our system of government a priority… It would not be surprising if Democrats do well in the midterms, people like Pam Bondi and Kash Patel resign before they can be slapped with subpoenas.”
Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the House, with 219 Republicans versus 213 Democrats. In the Senate, Republicans have 53 members, and Democrats, 45, though the two independent senators – Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME) – caucus with Democrats.
Historical election data shows that the party occupying the White House has lost ground in 20 of the past 22 midterm elections dating back to 1938. Additionally, the severity of the election loss has been shown to correlate heavily with the incumbent president’s popularity, and with Trump having the lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years, Easley argued Democrats could very well win back control of Congress, and with that control, the power of the subpoena.
In support of his prediction that top-ranking Trump officials may step down from their positions should Democrats regain control of Congress, Easley pointed to remarks made by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) Sunday to MSNBC, in which the lawmaker suggested that Democrats would hold the Justice Department “to account” should his party win big in the midterms.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves in terms of specifying, like, you know,” Raskin said Sunday on MSNBC. “It is very much within our agenda to restore the rule of law and to try to fight for justice.”
Raskin is currently the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, which holds subpoena power; should Democrats win majority control of the House next year, Raskin would likely become the chair of the committee as its top Democrat. And, given his remarks about holding the DOJ “to account,” Easley argued that subpoenas could very well be in the cards.
“Democrats seem to have a sense of how and where to act to limit Trump’s power, but none of this is possible unless they take back the House,” Easley wrote.
