In the first round of Sunday morning talk shows since the midterm elections, Democrats warned of the coming storm of investigations that they plan to unleash against the Trump White House now that they have taken control of the House of Representatives.
Driving the news: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said on ABC's "This Week" that protecting the Mueller investigation will be his top oversight priority. Nadler said that if acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is still in office when he takes the gavel, his first order of business will be to invite or subpoena him to appear before the committee.
- Nadler also added that the Judiciary Committee will re-examine the White House's apparent stifling of the FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on CNN's "State of the Union" that "the appointment of Mr. Whitaker should concern every American — Democrat, Republican, liberal conservative — who believes in rule of law and justice."
- Schumer said that he, Nancy Pelosi and several other ranking members have sent a letter to the chief ethics officer of the Justice Department asking him to issue guidelines urging Whitaker to recuse himself from all matters related to the Mueller investigation.
- Incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said on "This Week" that one of his top oversight priorities involves the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the census.
- He also added that looking into voter suppression is a priority: "We cannot have a country where it becomes normal to do everything in folks' power to stop people from voting."
- Incoming House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Democrats will have to "ruthlessly prioritize" which investigations to follow so that their "positive agenda" — things like fixing health care — does not get lost.
Go deeper: Democrats to probe Trump for targeting CNN, Washington Post
- In an interview for "Axios on HBO," Schiff said the future House Democratic majority can demand emails and testimony to see if Trump used "the instruments of state power to punish the press."
