Investigating President Trump, his family and allies has turned into an increasingly popular fundraising pitch for some Democrats, who in recent months have dangled the probes as a lure for campaign contributions.
California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the investigative House Oversight Committee, sent an August fundraising email appeal to supporters with the subject line “Subpoena power,” saying that as chair of the panel, he was prepared to compel testimony from members of the president’s family and inner circle.
“If Democrats win back the House, I’ll become Chairman — and I’ll have subpoena power,” Garcia wrote in the message to supporters. “The power to subpoena Trump’s family, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Todd Blanche, and everyone involved in the Epstein files.”
But first, the email said, Democrats must win the House, so he asked donors to contribute $5 to help the party win the majority.
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Democrats have made accountability for Trump, his administration and family a central part of their midterms pitch to voters. Leaders in both the House and Senate focused heavily on Trump’s corruption in the year before the election, and Garcia told The Washington Sun in June about his investigative plans if he became chairman of the Oversight Committee.
The fundraising tactic adds an ethical question to the promises from Democrats: The lawmakers seeking to run the investigations are also using them to raise money for their political operation.
The House Ethics Manual prohibits tying campaign contribution solicitations to actions taken or expected to be taken in a lawmaker’s official capacity.
The House Ethics Committee declined to explain how it interprets or enforces congressional rules prohibiting lawmakers from linking campaign contribution solicitations to official actions.
Asked whether the rules distinguish between fundraising on a broader oversight agenda and soliciting donations while pledging specific investigations or subpoenas, Tom Rust, the committee’s staff director and chief counsel, replied: “No comment.”
The fundraising appeals reviewed by The Sun do not cross an ethical line, according to Kedric Payne, a former deputy chief counsel at the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Payne said the solicitations are no different from, for example, a candidate promising to repeal Obamacare while asking for supporters to contribute to their campaign.
“That’s just part of the reason that you want people to support you, because you’re going into office to do something,” Payne said.
Instead, the House ethics rules are concerned with lawmakers soliciting campaign contributions from donors who have direct interest in a specific official action, Payne said.
“The Ethics rule comes in to get those things that are in the gray where your intent may not be so corrupt to get you under the bribery standard, but you clearly are asking for a campaign contribution from certain people that they might think is tied to certain official acts,” Payne said.
Garcia is the most prolific of the Democrats fundraising off the promise to launch Trump probes. The Sun analysis of archived emails collected by the Archive of Political Emails, a publicly accessible database of political fundraising messages by the nonprofit Defending Democracy Together, found a few dozen similar emails, primarily from Garcia, but also several other Democrats on the Oversight Committee — Reps. Dave Min of California, Ro Khanna of California, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and James Walkinshaw of Virginia. The list is not exhaustive, but in all those identified, Democrats ask for contributions to their own campaigns or to party committees, promising to investigate Trumpworld.
“Donald Trump and his family have treated the White House like a personal ATM,” said another fundraising email from Garcia late last month. “That’s why I’m asking you to contribute $5 before our most important fundraising deadline: midnight.
“As the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, I’m prepared to investigate the profiteering, expose the cover-ups, find the records, and drag the people responsible before Congress.”
Of the 32 fundraising emails in the archive that invoked the prospect of investigating the administration and Trump associates, the California Democrat’s campaign sent 28. The count includes repeated solicitations built around similar messages.
The other Democrats each sent one qualifying email. Walkinshaw told supporters in a September fundraising pitch that Democrats would gain the power to investigate and issue subpoenas if they win.
“Here’s my message to Donald Trump: Save everything, because we’re coming for it,” Walkinshaw wrote. The next paragraph asked supporters to contribute to his reelection campaign.
Garcia’s campaign raised more than $700,000 in the third quarter of this year, bringing its total for the cycle to $3.3 million, according to Federal Election Commission data. The campaign ended September with $1.6 million on hand. Garcia’s seat is considered safely Democratic. He has also raised $1.4 million for the campaign arm of House Democrats this cycle, and over $1 million for the committee’s Red to Blue program that pushes resources to candidates trying to flip a Republican seat. The California Democrat also contributed $335,000 to fulfill his dues to the campaign arm.
A spokeswoman did not see an ethical issue, saying the solicitations provide clarity.
“Rep. Garcia is proud to be able to raise millions of dollars for the DCCC and candidates around the country,” Sara Guerrero, a spokesperson for Garcia, said in a statement. “He will continue to be straight up and clear to our supporters about what our agenda is and what will happen when we win the majority.”
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