President Donald Trump said the Justice Department should investigate Democrats’ “threats” to probe Republican lawmakers and donors after members of the minority party announced sweeping plans to tackle what they see as widespread corruption upon taking control of both chambers of Congress next year.
“This is extortion at the highest level, and they should be held accountable for this,” Trump wrote Saturday afternoon. “This is Weaponization and Lawfare at another level.”
The president added: “The imprisonment should be against these EXTORTIONISTS, and Republicans should get smart, fast!”
Democratic lawmakers have been studying a dossier drafted by the think tank Groundwork Collective that identifies hundreds of executives and companies for them to investigate after they take control of the House and Senate in January, The Washington Sun reported this week.
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House Democrats on the Judiciary and Oversight committees have been reviewing the document, according to multiple sources familiar with the lawmakers’ private strategizing. The roadmap is the opening salvo in a broader struggle within the party over how aggressively to wield the investigatory powers that come with having the majority.
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The president’s post also stated that Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) has said she will “go after all young people that believe in Republican Values, and that give even the slightest inclination to be a Republican.”
Slotkin drew the president’s ire last year after posting a video aimed at military members that urged them to stand up to illegal orders. In January, the DOJ launched an investigation into Slotkin and the other Democratic lawmakers who participated in the video, though the case was ultimately dropped in February after a grand jury declined to sign off on an indictment. At the time, Trump had accused them of sedition, “punishable by death.”
“Mr. President, your threats of legal action and worse didn’t work when you tried to criminally indict me in front of a grand jury last February. Or when you threatened it again last month,” Slotkin posted Saturday on X, adding that Trump should focus on ending the Iran war and tariffs.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) sent a letter to committee chairs on Thursday, urging them to be ready for “retribution” and “countless witch hunts” from House Oversight next year. The letter also asked chairs to identify officials or projects likely on Democrats’ “target list” and consider how recent Supreme Court decisions will factor into oversight going forward.
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