Control of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections would give Democrats power to subpoena documents and testimony
In August, Jamie Raskin renewed his demand that Jared Kushner hand over documents about the overlap between his informal role advising Donald Trump on foreign policy and the private equity firm he runs after an earlier request was ignored.
Five of the 11 companies that Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden wrote to about Donald Trump’s IRS settlement – including the Trump Organization and World Liberty Financial – never answered at all.
Of course, none of them had to. That all changes if Democrats win the House and Senate in November.
Control of the chamber would not only give Democrats the gavels, but they’d be handed bigger staffs and the power to subpoena documents and testimony – and they have been unusually candid about how they plan to use it. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, has ranked his priorities in September: the Trump family’s businesses, the Epstein files, immigration enforcement, corporate profiteering, and Robert F Kennedy Jr’s handling of vaccines.
Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee and its likely chair, calls the potential scope of the work “gargantuan”. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, has promised to “hold the crooks accountable”.
Here are eight of the most consequential investigations, what Democrats have already demanded, and where they could hit a wall.
- Democrats
- US midterm elections 2026
- Trump administration
- US politics
- Jared Kushner
- Donald Trump
- Donald Trump Jr
- explainers