Congressional Democrats have done something unusual: they have publicly itemized what they intend to investigate if they win the House and Senate in November 2026. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, has ranked his priorities: Trump family businesses, Epstein files, immigration enforcement, corporate profiteering, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr's handling of vaccines. Jamie Raskin, likely next chair of the judiciary committee, calls the potential scope "gargantuan." The family business track is the broadest. Raskin has been chasing Jared Kushner's firm Affinity Partners since 2023, when it took $2bn from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund after Kushner left the White House. The inquiry also covers a $400m Qatari-gifted plane for Trump, a Trump Jr wedding partly funded by a Russian oligarch, and multimillion-dollar defense contracts won by extended family members. None of these entities have been compelled to respond — yet. The IRS settlement is the most structurally alarming thread. In May, the Department of Justice settled Trump's $10bn lawsuit against the IRS with an order barring the agency from auditing past returns of Trump, his family, and related companies. Richard Neal and Raskin demanded documents on the negotiations. Ron Wyden and 12 Senate finance Democrats called for a bipartisan investigation. In July, Wyden, Warren, and Schumer wrote to 11 companies — including Kalshi and Polymarket — asking whether they intend to use the settlement as audit protection. Five of the 11 never answered. A federal judge has said the order conflicts with federal law; the legal fight is unresolved. Crypto and prediction markets represent the investigation with the most bipartisan potential. Richard Blumenthal opened a preliminary inquiry into the $Trump meme coin and World Liberty Financial. Warren and allies demanded hearings after disclosures showed Trump earned more than $1.2bn from crypto ventures, including about $588m tied to World Liberty token sales. Republican senator John Curtis asked the Senate judiciary committee to subpoena Trump Jr over his Kalshi and Polymarket ties, and Republican oversight chair James Comer opened his own insider-trading probe. The Pentagon investigation centers on defense contracts steered toward companies linked to the Trump family. A January letter from Warren, Blumenthal, and Andy Kim lists companies backed by 1789 Capital — Trump Jr's venture firm — that received defense money: Cerberus ($45m), PsiQuantum ($10.8m), Firehawk Aerospace ($4.9m), and Vulcan Elements ($10m plus a reported $620m loan). A $12.8m contract went to Unusual Machines, a drone company in which Trump Jr holds a stake. A Pentagon reply showed no safeguards against such conflicts. The Epstein files remain a bipartisan flashpoint. The DOJ released roughly 3.5m of 6m pages, blew a legally mandated deadline, heavily redacted portions, and accidentally disclosed victims' names. The oversight committee under Republican James Comer has been a rare pocket of bipartisan cooperation — subpoenaing witnesses and holding Leon Black in contempt when he defied them. Journalist Katie Phang is suing over the remaining files. On the Iran war and foreign policy, Gregory Meeks led House foreign affairs Democrats in demanding testimony from Rubio, Hegseth, Witkoff, and Kushner, and forced a vote to subpoena them. Jack Reed pressed for an inspector general probe of Secretary Hegseth's use of Signal. The throughline across all eight fronts is the same: Democrats are signaling that oversight infrastructure — subpoena power, staff capacity, and document authority — is the primary deliverable of a majority, not legislation.
