House Democrats have a laundry list of investigations they want to launch targeting President Trump’s administration if they flip the House in 2026.
Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the House, and House Democrats are eyeing wins to regain control of the lower chamber, especially after Democrats won numerous elections last month throughout the country.
Democrats have felt emboldened after their wins in the off-year elections, and are eyeing districts in Texas, California, North Carolina and Florida.
“The level of corruption from this administration is unprecedented,” said Rep. Dan Goldman, New York Democrat who served as lead counsel in the first impeachment of Mr. Trump in 2019. “The lawlessness of ICE and sending military into cities, their politicization and weaponization of the Department of Justice is absolutely egregious, and I think there are going to be a number of things that we’re going to have to take a very close look at.”
Democrats have already launched investigations into actions by the administration, but a House majority would give Democrats control of the Oversight and Judiciary Committees and provide the votes they need to get investigations moving.
“Look at all of the letters we’ve been sending demanding information about different scandals and crises afflicting the administration,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat, and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. “I only send letters when I think that this is a matter of profound public import.”
Cryptocurrency
Several House Democrats, including Mr. Raskin, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, named the cryptocurrency ventures in which the Trump family has been involved.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has dropped lawsuits and investigations involving the crypto industry. The president’s family has also ramped up its crypto investments.
On his second day in office, the president pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who created the dark web marketplace Silk Road, which operated on crypto payments.
Last month, Mr. Trump pardoned convicted crypto executive Changpeng Zhao, who co-founded one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance.
There are reportedly ties between Binance and the cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial, led by Mr. Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, but Mr. Zhao has denied such connections.
A report from Judiciary Committee Democrats called “Trump, Crypto and a New Age of Corruption” last month laid out Democrats’ findings of “how the president has used his office to enrich himself and his family—with crypto holdings worth as much as $11.6 billion and income of more than $800 million from the sale of crypto assets in the first half of 2025 alone—while dismantling federal oversight and safeguards that once protected Americans from fraud, scams, and financial exploitation.”
“I know there’s kind of no shortage of scandals, but I think in many ways some of the most potent and important ones regards following the money,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “I’m very concerned about a lot of the crypto transactions, and the way that a lot of the evidence, or rather of events, points to the possibilities of money laundering entanglements.”
Boat strikes
Congressional Democrats have spoken out against the strikes on the alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean, with many lawmakers on both sides questioning the legality of the strikes. The U.S. military has carried out more than 20 strikes, and more than 80 alleged “narco-terrorists” have been killed.
The Sept. 2 “double tap” strike ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spurred requests from Congressional Democrats for the full video. The first strike reportedly killed nine of the 11 people aboard the vessel. A second strike was ordered after two survivors were later spotted alive near the boat.
“Pete Hegseth’s actions are grave, grave breaches of our legal system, our rules of war and they absolutely need to be held accountable,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.
Mr. Raskin called the strikes “lawless extra-judicial killings.”
Epstein
Democrats have not let up on Mr. Trump’s ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and have released photos from Epstein’s estate, including ones that include or involve Mr. Trump. Tens of thousands of documents have been released from investigations into Epstein in the past, but Democrats insist more needs to be done.
“The Epstein one, for me, is going to be important to make sure we get all of the information and that the survivors come in,” Mr. Khanna said.
The president was friends with the disgraced financier but had a falling out sometime in the early 2000s. Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying he didn’t know about the illegal actions of Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein died by suicide in his New York City jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking in 2019.
The Oversight Committee received more than 95,000 photos from the Epstein estate this month that include Epstein with wealthy and powerful men who were in his orbit, such as former President Bill Clinton. Other photos include women at Epstein’s properties.
The president reversed his position on releasing the Epstein files, at first saying the attention on the matter was senseless, but later approving the release, signing a law mandating it.
“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” Mr. Garcia, the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement.
