Some House Democrats are already considering the possibility of investigating former President Donald Trump if they win control of the House in November.
Two key lawmakers, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), did not rule out the possibility of an investigation if Trump wins the White House in November.
Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee who led the investigation into President Trump's tax returns during the last Congress, told Fox News Digital that it's “hard to tell” whether he intends to resume that effort, but added that a recent Supreme Court decision expanding presidential immunity could change the calculation.
“That's speculative, but I'm not going to back down in any way from the position I've taken on this issue for many years,” Neal said.
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Reps. Eric Swalwell and Dan Goldman have said they expect there will be investigations into Trump if he wins the November election. (Getty Images)
“I would rather look to the future than the past, but we're going to do our job,” Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital.
In a longer statement provided to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Raskin accused Republicans of ignoring issues such as gun violence and the cost of prescription drugs.
“Instead, for two years, House Republicans have used the filibuster's gavel to push through the laughable failure that is the impeachment inquiry to help presidential candidate and cult leader Donald Trump. And even worse, they have blocked and obstructed Democrat efforts to investigate the corruption of Donald Trump and his fellow dictators,” Raskin said.
“Investigating this never-ending corruption is crucial for Congress to craft legislative fixes to ensure our government serves the people and put an end to attempts to abuse the presidency to sell off our government to the highest bidder.”
Meanwhile, House Democrats Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said an investigation into Trump's family and their business dealings could be justified even if he loses re-election.
They specifically pointed the finger at Mr Kushner's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a former White House adviser whose investment firm had received $2 billion in commitments from a fund led by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“His family has some ongoing dealings that I learned about after we were out of the majority that I think are worth looking into,” Swalwell said. “The Kushner family and the Saudis' dealings. I think people would like to see some closure on that.”
He criticized House Republicans' investigation into President Biden's son's overseas business dealings, adding, “If they're interested in Hunter Biden, they owe it to their country to be interested in what went on there.”
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Democrats have suggested Jared Kushner's overseas business dealings could be investigated. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
“Obviously, if Trump wins, that will be his primary objective,” Goldman, the Oversight Committee member, told Fox News Digital. [of the committee]”It's important that Congress provide the checks and balances that Donald Trump, in particular, demands.”
“I think there are a lot of really important, substantive issues that the committee didn't investigate this year that are not partisan and that we should be focusing on,” he said, adding, “But we're also frustrated that obvious concerns were not investigated this term.”
“How Jared Kushner got $2 billion from Mohammed bin Salman for an investment company he never did before… that's a huge amount of money. There's been no investigation into it whatsoever.”
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Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt responded, “Mr. Swalwell and Mr. Goldman should get on with their lives. President Trump has endured two bogus impeachments, four baseless witch-hunt prosecutions, and endless investigations into his businesses – all of which have failed because they are not based in fact, but rather fueled by the rampant Trump Derangement Syndrome that is sweeping the Democratic Party.”
As the Democratic minority leader on the Oversight committee, Raskin's investigative work on Trump this Congress could be a harbinger of what Democratic investigations of Trump might look like in a second term.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said a Democratic victory would “harass” Trump. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Earlier this month, he and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Trump demanding that he prove he did not accept a “cash bribe” from the Egyptian president in 2017. The letter read: The Washington Post The report also alleged that former Attorney General Bill Barr obstructed an investigation into the matter.
Investigating Biden and his family has been a central focus of the committee under the tenure of Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, who recently released a report accusing the president of committing impeachable offenses, charges the White House denies.
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But he denied that the intensity of the Biden investigation could give Democrats an excuse to investigate Trump, stressing that any investigation into Trump is political.
“If Democrats want to waste taxpayer money and time by investigating the Trump Administration again, that's their right, but we focused on federal waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement,” Comer told Fox News Digital.
“If Trump wins… they will harass and obstruct him in every way.”
