Trump and the Democrats: Investigations Pending
New Democratic majority will aim to challenge the president
By Chanler Sharpe
The Progressive Teen Contributor
I n the 2018 midterm election, many milestones were passed by the American people. In particular, young people turned out in record rates, with the youth turnout rate being three times what it was in the 2014 election. The 2018 midterm was also the most expensive midterm in history, as total campaign spending on the election reached 5.2 billion dollars.
Democrats also achieved their most important goal for the election: gaining control of the House of Representatives. Democrats managed to flip 43 seats in the House, exceeding the 25 seats they needed to flip to gain a majority. That new Democratic majority was also notable for its incredible diversity. For example, Democrats Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids are the first ever Native American congresswomen to hold office. In addition to that, a record was broken for the most women to hold seats in Congress — a whopping 113.
All of this then begs the question: how will Democrats use their new power to check the Trump administration?
Over 17 investigations are ongoing surrounding Trump and his current and noncurrent administration as of the end of 2018. Of course, those include things like the Russian government’s involvement in the 2016 election, Trump’s Organization’s alleged campaign finance fraud, and also supposed tampering from the Middle East. All of these and more, are things the Democrats are going to be focusing on, specifically the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees. However, not all Democrats are exactly “all in” about this.
Henry Waxman, a Democrat and former chair of the House Oversight Committee, warns that Democrats should take their time. “What I’ve been telling my Democrat colleagues and friends is that they have a responsibility to use the oversight powers responsibly, in a credible way. If they abuse those powers they will have no credibility which is a bad result for what they’re trying to do.” With that in mind, where will Democratic committees with oversight powers focus their attention?
The answer lies within the Mueller investigation. Jerry Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, said that Democrats will not wait for Mueller to release his report to start their own investigation. Along with Mueller, he claims Democrats need to investigate the “massive fraud” committed by the Trump campaign in the 2016 election, “whether it’s by hush payments or by collusion with Russians or by any other means.” This seems to be the main focus — to see whether Trump and his administration truly did collude with Russia. However, Nadler does not want to rush into impeachment, stating “We will see where the facts lead. Maybe that will lead to impeachment. Maybe it won’t. It is much too early.”
Other Democrats seem to disagree. Just after being sworn in, new Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib stated: “We’re gonna impeach the motherf***er.” Other Democrats, such as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, claim that “This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stroke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.” The conflicting desires to commit careful oversight and also defeat Donald Trump puts the Democrats in a precarious position. As Waxman said, they need to tread carefully, even though much of the new House is focused on getting Trump out of the Oval Office. No matter what path they will take, Democrats now have control of the House, and they are ready to check Trump.
