Democrats will be “aggressive” in pursuing the “Trump crime family”, their business partners and billionaire allies if the party triumphs in the midterm elections, the man set to lead a powerful congressional committee has pledged. In an interview with the FT, Garcia outlined his investigative priorities if he takes control of the committee’s agenda after the November elections, including amassing evidence that could lead to Trump’s impeachment and questioning Elon Musk. Garcia said he believed President Donald Trump has “committed crimes” and “impeachable offences, and I think it’s our job to build the case and to provide the evidence”.
His comments come as Democrats — notably Georgia senator Jon Ossoff — have contrasted the Trump family’s alleged self-enrichment with America’s affordability crisis on the campaign trail in their push to flip the House and the Senate. The FT last year revealed the Trump family had made at least $1bn through a variety of cryptocurrency ventures. Corporate donors from the crypto and tech sectors have developed close ties to the first family and been granted access to the president, with some receiving legal relief or pardons, winning government contracts or benefiting from policy changes.
Robert Garcia said: ‘My job is . . . to hold people accountable for the injustice and the crimes, and the corruption that is leading [to] people losing trust in government’© Caroline Gutman/FT He said he had a number of questions for Donald Trump Jr, including how some companies his firm invested in received multimillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon and why a Russian businessman spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his wedding celebrations in the Bahamas. Garcia, who will have the power to compel witnesses to testify under oath if Democrats win, conceded that getting a member of the president’s family to testify in front of Congress would be “an enormous task” but “one that we’re going to be aggressive on”. He said it would be easier to get their business associates to respond to subpoenas.
The FT last year reported that Trump Jr’s 1789 Capital invested in rare earths start-up Vulcan Elements shortly before it received a $620mn loan from the Pentagon. Another company he backed, drone group Unusual Machines, received a military contract. Trump Jr’s spokesperson has consistently said he has had no involvement in negotiations with the government on behalf of 1789’s portfolio companies.
A Pentagon official said: “No company receives preferential treatment,” and added that “outside affiliations, investors or political connections play absolutely no role in the department’s funding decisions”. The White House said: “Democrats have no agenda to improve the lives of the American people, just plans to obstruct and baselessly target President Trump’s commonsense agenda.” They added that Trump’s stock portfolio is “independently managed by third-party financial institutions”, that all investment decisions are made entirely by independent managers and that there are “no conflicts of interest”. While in the minority, Garcia has attempted to probe the business dealings of Trump Jr, the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
The California Democrat has also pursued crypto deals, including those involving Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whom Trump pardoned last year. They have all denied any wrongdoing. The House oversight committee will continue its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein no matter who holds power next year.
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