Donald Trump vowed a political comeback Sunday as the major parties clashed over Democrat threats to prosecute top administration officials after the president’s Republicans lost control of Congress in midterm elections.
The devastating results in last Tuesday’s vote leave Trump politically hamstrung as he enters the remaining two-year ‘lame duck’ period of his White House tenure, while opening the door to multiple investigations by the Democrat-controlled Congress of the president, his family and senior members of his administration.
On political talk shows Sunday, incoming congressional leaders from the Democratic Party promised to hold Trump and his aides to account, while the president’s top law officer resolved to defend them and Trump dug in his heels on social media.
“America took a giant step back in History with the results of the last Election,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that the stock market that had grown during his tenure took a loss after the vote.
“But have no fear, we will be back, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
On Friday, a defiant Trump appointed hardline advisor Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff, signaling a bare-knuckle fightback — even though many Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, have reflected on why they had lost so badly at the ballot box.
Miller was architect of Trump’s tough immigration policy that analysts have identified as a contributing factor to the unpopularity of Republicans.
Amid Democrat threats for administration officials to “lawyer up,” Trump said Saturday he was ordering the Justice Department to examine Democratic threats to impeach members of his administration, likening it to “extortion.”
‘They can come after us’
That stance stoked a war of words between top Republicans and Democrats on the Sunday talk shows.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump and now head of the Justice Department, vowed to actively defend Trump and senior members of his administration.
“You have members of Congress who, after Tuesday, have done nothing but threaten everything that’s happening in this administration,” Blanche told CNN, citing impeachment threats against Miller after his appointment.
“If they try to come after Stephen Miller…instead of actually just conducting oversight and leading, of course the Department of Justice will be there to defend him.”
Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, took aim at Blanche, saying one role of Congress under the US constitution is to hold the executive branch to account.
“All he wants to do is protect Donald Trump, is protect Donald Trump’s cabinet and administration officials. That is not his job,” Garcia told CNN, vowing to stop corruption and investigate “those that are committing crimes against the American public.”
“They can come after us however they want. We’re not going to be intimidated,” added Garcia.
With control of committees in both chambers of Congress, Democrats can summon officials, demand documents and hold public hearings, putting Trump and his senior aides under intense scrutiny.
Likely subjects include the Trump family’s business and cryptocurrency dealings, government contracts involving billionaire Elon Musk, cuts to federal agencies, immigration enforcement and the conduct of the Iran war.
Hakeem Jeffries, set to become speaker of the new Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, said he would support an effort to oust Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a key architect of the war on Iran that began in February.
“I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” Jeffries told ABC, when asked about a Republican lawmaker’s reported plan to introduce an impeachment motion as early as Monday.
“The so-called secretary of defense has abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe. Pete Hegseth has got to go.”
During his first presidency, Trump himself was impeached by the House twice, but on both occasions he was acquitted by the Senate.
