🚨Dem investigators plot a Corporate America crackdown
The party will likely subpoena America’s C-Suites if they win in November.
C-SUITES IN THE HOT SEAT — Over the past 72 hours, we’ve started to get a clearer picture of Hill Democrats’ investigative plans should they flip the House this fall.
Right in the crosshairs? Corporate America.
Longtime Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine, my cohost on The Huddle, has been sounding this alarm for weeks: He says his party is chomping at the bit to go after big companies they accuse of cozying up to the Trump administration for political favor. Turns out, Dan is right.
Earlier this week, MSNOW scooped that would-be Speaker HAKEEM JEFFRIES has already assigned a top aide to run point on a sweeping plan to use committee gavels to subpoena information from companies — perhaps eventually even haul in their chief executives. Democrats on multiple committees are already making lists of corporate targets they want to grill about mergers, settlements, regulatory policy changes, and donations — like the ones to the White House ballroom.
One senior congressional staffer summed up the mood (and the accusations) to MS’s Jacky Alemany like this: “Trump’s running the presidency like a mob boss and everyone who’s agreed to bribe him is a target for an investigation... There are very wealthy CEOs who know better. And we’re taking names.”
Meanwhile, Rep. RO KHANNA, a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, texted me something similar today: “We will be looking at any corruption where private sector actors sought to buy influence by doing business with the Trump family.”
TO BE SURE, the administration is already calling these allegations garbage. Expect most (well, probably all) of these companies to say the same. Executive will probably argue that everything they’ve done has been to protect their bottom lines — that anything less would be a betrayal of shareholders.
What’s more, even some Democrats admit privately that it’s not technically illegal to try to curry favor with whoever’s in charge — so long as no quid pro quo is explicitly spelled out. (And good luck proving that.) There’s also the risk of alienating the very companies that help keep the U.S. economy humming — not to mention, a substantial crop of the donor class.
But like it or not, this is the direction things look to be heading for 2027.
Here’s a taste from one of my conversations on this topic: “They’re lining up to fawn over the president and hand him fake trophies — because that’s how you do business. Instead of taking a stand, they did what they thought was best for business. And people are really pissed about that.”
The person continued: “‘We paid him for the ballroom.’ ‘We paid him for the library.’ ‘We’ll pay him for the Arc if that ever gets built.’ It’s like they did it because they got something in return — and even if it’s not criminal, it’s just fundamentally corrupt.”
THE ISSUE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN supercharged after the recent firing of antitrust chief GAIL SLATER, a warrior for the right in taking on big business. While some reports say she was ousted for clashing with PAM BONDI, others suggest she was shown the door for standing up to MAGA-aligned influencers getting paid by corporations.
Whatever the truth, expect Democrats to call her in when they can — as well as those deputies who were ousted after the DOJ’s HPE-Juniper settlement last June. (A settlement Slater apparently opposed.) Just last night, Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) was calling Slater’s departure “an ominous sign” and suggesting “corruption” was afoot.
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TARGETING CORPORATIONS MIGHT SEEM COUNTERINTUITIVE. You may ask: Wouldn’t Democrats want to go after Trump, the big fish, himself?
But there’s a pervasive feeling of betrayal among Democrats when it comes to the business community. I made some calls on this yesterday and found many are still steaming about the very public dismantling of DEI programs. Others are still irked over the flow of cash to Trump’s inaugural committee — or the way some law firms bent the knee, or the way others rushed to praise the admin.
IT’S AN INVESTIGATIVE STRATEGY Democrats believe could be more fruitful than those they’ve taken in the past. You’ll recall that during the first Trump administration, Democrats launched dozens of investigations into the president. Trump stonewalled every single one.
But Corporate America is a different animal. They care about profits, reputation, and hate bad press. They don’t want their execs testifying on Capitol Hill, or their internal emails leaked to the media. Thus, Democrats feel confident that they’ll play ball in a way the president never did.
Some D.C. consulting firms are already prepping. One firm memo, obtained yesterday by Axios’ Mike Allen, warns: “The subpoenas are coming. The only question is whether companies will be ready.” It also advises: “The companies that prepare in advance stand a much better chance of emerging with their reputations intact.”
TO GET A SENSE OF WHERE DEMS will focus their attention, look no further than the stack of letters they’ve already sent to some of these corporations. They’ve shot off inquiries about the Skydance-Paramount merger, donations to the White House ballroom, and they’re closely watching the battle over Warner Bros. — given that the president appears to be involved.
Rep. Khanna flagged for me his recent inquiry to a Trump-family crypto company, a missive he sent following reports that a UAE firm took a $500 million stake in the company. Democrats have also mentioned a slew of other companies they’re eyeing, from Amazon, Meta and Apple, to Palantir and Google.
And my co-host Dan warns that the list is only growing.
“The Democratic investigative committees are going to be up these companies’ rear ends about how much bootlicking there is to the Trump White House,” Dan told me. “And here’s the problem for all these companies: In Washington, sources and methods are gossiped about all over town. When a lobbyist or a head of government affairs does something impressive, the word gets around—over lunch, at happy hour, you name it. Don’t think it doesn’t reach Capitol Hill and get catalogued.”
Would be ironic if the companies the Dems are targeting turn around and massively fund the 2026 GOP candidates so that the GOP maintains majority. If I was advising the Dems, I’d recommend they take a page out of Trump’s playbook and not reveal their attack plan in advance.