Legal letter accuses opposition party of ‘abusing the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere’
US Reporter
Published 11 November 2026
The White House has threatened Democrats with legal action over their plans to launch investigations into the Epstein scandal and members of the Trump administration.
In a letter dated Nov 9, Will Scharf, the White House counsel, warned that the federal government was monitoring the “abusive and capricious threats” Democrats were allegedly making about investigations they planned to launch.
The letter was addressed to Robert Garcia, the Democratic representative expected to head up the House oversight committee.
Mr Garcia posted on X the night of the Democrats’ sweeping midterm victory: “LAWYER UP.”
Senior Democrats in both chambers of Congress have vowed to use their new majorities to expand investigative staff, and use subpoena powers to investigate the Trump administration.
Will Scharf suggested the Democrats’ plans to go after President Trump could ‘cross the line into blatant criminality’ Credit: Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago
Democrats have made no secret of their intention to launch a swathe of inquiries into the handling of files relating to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, corruption among members of Donald Trump’s family and Elon Musk’s work for the administration.
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In the letter, published by Punchbowl News, Mr Scharf reminded Mr Garcia that Congress could only investigate matters for a legislative purpose.
“I write to remind you of the foundational limits that the Constitution imposes on congressional investigations and subpoenas, which you and members of the Congress have evinced a clear intent to transgress,” Mr Scharf wrote.
“We are monitoring the abusive and capricious threats that are now proliferating from Democrat legislators who seek to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government,” he added.
Robert Garcia is expected to become the chairman of the House oversight committee in January 2027 following the Democrats’ midterm election victory Credit: Bloomberg/Graeme Sloan
The White House has hired 15 more staff as it prepares to wage a legal battle, according to the Washington Post.
Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, is understood to be first on the Democrats’ list. They plan to subpoena his inner circle and rake over controversies from his tenure, such as “Signalgate”, when he accidentally leaked US military plans to a journalist, sources told The Telegraph last month.
Mr Hegseth narrowly escaped an impeachment attempt on Tuesday night, brought by rebel Republican Thomas Massie. Democrats failed to make up enough numbers to further the process, but are expected to pick the fight back up when they return with a majority in January.
Mr Hegseth survived an impeachment threat by Thomas Massie after Republicans united to kill off a move to oust him Credit: AP Photo/Allison Robbert
In their investigation into Epstein, Democrats are vowing to investigate ties between the paedophile and other powerful figures, including the president himself.
Mr Trump has always denied any wrongdoing relating to Epstein, and insisted that he ended his friendship with him long before any criminal wrongdoing was suspected.
Democrats are also planning to investigate major banks with ties to the convicted sex offender, including subpoenaing top bank executives.
On Friday, The Telegraph revealed that the Democrats will also try to force the department of justice to hand over the unredacted Epstein files needed by Scotland Yard to prosecute Lord Mandelson.
In response to the letter, Mr Garcia wrote in a statement: “It appears Donald Trump has something to hide.”
On Tuesday, Democrats vowed to challenge a 137-page report by senior Republicans dismissing allegations of wrongdoing relating to Mr Trump and Epstein, following a 15-month investigation into the late paedophile financier. Republicans accused the opposition party of an “unfounded witch hunt” against the US president.
The committee did not find any material to tie Epstein’s wrongdoing to Mr Trump.
“During the committee’s investigation, committee Democrats were obsessed with trying to implicate President Trump and insinuate that he was involved in the crimes of Epstein and Maxwell,” the report said, adding: “Their unfounded witch hunt continued without regard for the interests of survivors.”
However, Democrats criticised the report as incomplete and vowed to hold their own public hearings.
In response to the report, Mr Garcia said on Tuesday that the Democrats were planning to “hold real public hearings” which would “ask tough questions of the powerful men who associated with Epstein, including Donald Trump”.
“Oversight Republicans have released a report based on an incomplete investigation and zero public hearings on Jeffrey Epstein,” he said.
“The Department of Justice continues to illegally withhold over 2.5 million pages of documents, there’s been no investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer, and Attorney General Todd Blanche has yet to testify about his role in the largest government cover-up of the modern era.”
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