House Democrats Win Majority and Aim Subpoenas at Trump Businesses

By Daniel Okafor

Democrats will control roughly 248 seats in the U.S. House, and the incoming Oversight chairman has a two-word message for the Trump family's business partners: "Lawyer up."

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who will chair the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress, posted the phrase on X and repeated it in a formal statement after NBC News and MS NOW projected the Democratic majority on Tuesday night. His office said he has vowed to take on what it called the "Trump Crime Family," along with corporate corruption, abuses at the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, and the cover-up of the Epstein files.

The election math was simple. Democrats needed a net gain of three seats. They got there through Republican-held suburban and swing districts.

• In New Jersey's 7th District, Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, defeated Rep. Tom Kean Jr., according to CNN and the AP.
• In Virginia's 2nd, former Rep. Elaine Luria flipped the seat held by Rep. Jen Kiggans, Decision Desk HQ projected.
• In Colorado's 8th, former state lawmaker Manny Rutinel flipped a toss-up seat after campaigning on lowering costs and opposing the administration's immigration crackdown.
• In North Carolina's newly redrawn 11th, Jamie Ager defeated Republican Jennifer Balkcom.

Democrats also held three Florida seats that Republicans had redrawn to flip. NBC's Decision Desk estimates they will finish with about 248 seats, a 61-seat majority. CNBC's election desk projects at least 235.

President Donald Trump had urged supporters to treat the midterms as a referendum on his presidency. He responded on Truth Social: "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"

What can't Democrats do with the majority?

House Democrats can now pass bills with a simple majority. But a House bill is not a law. Trump has threatened to "veto everything" if Democrats win Congress, and overriding a veto takes two-thirds of both chambers. Democrats will not have that margin in either one.

That constrains Speaker-in-waiting Hakeem Jeffries on his four stated priorities, which NBC reported as reversing Trump's Medicaid cuts, extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, restoring Congress's authority over tariffs and ending the war with Iran. Each needs Trump's signature or a veto-proof majority.

What the House can do is refuse to pass Trump's priorities, including spending bills. That gives Democrats leverage in every budget fight for the next two years.

Why are subpoenas the real weapon?

Subpoenas don't need the president's signature. Committee control carries the power to compel documents and testimony from the administration, and from private companies and individuals too.

Garcia has said his panel will focus on "Trump family corruption," including the president's cryptocurrency ventures, which have earned him more than $1 billion. He told Punchbowl News the committee will examine the family's crypto deals, Donald Trump Jr.'s business dealings, and Trump family members such as Jared Kushner "sitting on boards and getting contracts." He also promised "quick action" on alleged pay-to-play arrangements involving former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, and said administration officials including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche could face subpoenas on "day one" of the Democratic majority.

Which businesses are first in line?

World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto company, is the likely first target. Democrats have focused on an Emirati royal known as the "Spy Sheikh," who bought a $500 million stake in the company last year while it seeks a national bank charter that an arm of the Treasury Department must approve. House Democrats had already asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to investigate the deal. Until now, all they could do was ask.

Democrats also plan to examine Trump's pardon of a Binance co-founder who helped the Trump family launch a stablecoin. Garcia has asked the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate whether companies that brought Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr. into their ownership or onto their payroll were rewarded with defense contracts. Those companies have collected more than $725 million in loans, grants and awards since Trump took office, according to Oversight Democrats.

The scrutiny extends beyond the family. Corporate donors to Trump's White House ballroom and companies that did deals with Trump family members are expected to be among the first targets, Reuters reported, with inquiries starting as early as February. Democrats expect the White House to resist and plan to subpoena private entities with ties to Trump directly to get around it. In Trump's first term, the White House slow-walked document requests and claimed executive privilege — a strategy that could return.

The White House has dismissed the plans. Democrats' "only agenda is to continue their decade long witch hunt against President Trump," spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Newsweek before Election Day.

The first subpoenas could land before the committee's new members find their desks. The real test is whether compelled documents survive claims of executive privilege long enough to become public.