They'll get us all killed

Fresh off a midterm election that has given them control over levers of congressional oversight, Democrats have made clear they plan to step up their efforts to monitor special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

But that’s just one of a myriad of issues they are planning to aggressively pursue.

For two years, House Democrats trying to police the Trump administration have pressed the White House, cabinet officials and others for answers on issues ranging from the treatment of undocumented immigrants to potential Trump family conflicts of interest. Little of that outreach, coming in the form of official letters from the minority party, ever got a response.

As they prepare to ascend to the House majority, Democrats are using a trove of more than 100 letters — rejected or ignored by Republican committee leaders and federal agencies — as a template to map their approach to oversight in the new Congress.

[...]

The current chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., has issued just one subpoena — to a Department of Homeland Security career employee — and blocked 64 motions by Democrats, even as the administration hasn’t answered dozens of document requests. Gowdy issued 14 subpoenas during the Benghazi Committee investigating former 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Gowdy's office did not respond to requests to comment.

[...]

"The American people voted to give the House of Representatives a mandate" to conduct "credible" investigations, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, the incoming House Oversight Committee chair, said after Democrats flipped the House on Tuesday.

[...]

The 64 denied motions relate to issues ranging from news reports that members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort may have influenced policy decisions to the Agriculture Department’s communications with corporate lobbyists and foreign payments to the Trump Organization.

[...]

The letters provide a sampling of Democrats' priorities. Many reflect the interests of the incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman, New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, while several dovetail with areas that Cummngs has pursued.

Issues reflected in the letters include the rise of white supremacist violence; the administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border; and Trump family conflicts of interest, including potential violations of the Emoluments Clause to the U.S. Constitution that prohibit a president from profiting from the office.

  NBC

Go get 'em, guys.