{"id":8720,"date":"2026-10-15T11:47:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T11:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8720"},"modified":"2026-10-15T11:47:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T11:47:44","slug":"democrats-are-gearing-up-to-investigate-the-trump-administration-it-wont-be-so-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8720","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Are Gearing Up to Investigate the Trump Administration. It Won\u2019t Be Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in-text-callout\">As polls indicate<\/span> Democrats <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-white-house-is-starting-to-panic-over-the-midterms\/\" class=\"text link\">could<\/a> take back the US House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate, lawmakers are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/democrats-have-a-plan-to-force-trumps-associates-to-cooperate-with-investigations\/\" class=\"text link\">gearing up<\/a> to investigate the Trump administration. But that may prove to be a difficult task, even with a majority in both chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">In late September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/gao-26-108192.pdf\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/gao-26-108192.pdf&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/assets\/gao-26-108192.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> on Elon Musk\u2019s so-called Department of Government Efficiency titled \u201cDOGE: Congress and the Public Lack Assurance That Systems and Data Were Protected at Multiple Agencies.\u201d In it, the GAO revealed that multiple executive branch agencies had refused to fully cooperate with investigators about the extent and nature of DOGE\u2019s access to sensitive systems and information. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which DOGE and the Trump administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/cfpb-has-been-gutted\/\" class=\"text link\">gutted<\/a> in the early months of the president\u2019s second term, sent GAO a letter accusing investigators of bias and alleging the report was \u201cmisleading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The report, just the latest example of the Trump administration seeking to dodge congressional oversight, raises questions about what\u2014if any\u2014avenues the legislature has to enforce accountability, or even access basic information about what the government has been doing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cIn a world where there is no shame, it&#8217;s hard to think of what Congress can do that doesn&#8217;t involve some coercion of some kind,\u201d says Emily Berman, a law professor at the University of Houston. \u201cLike withholding money or going to court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The GAO serves as Congress\u2019 primary investigative body; its work is most often initiated by requests from Congress, but it is independent and nonpartisan. It does not, however, have the ability to enforce laws or take on prosecution. Federal agencies don\u2019t necessarily have to <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/115771\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/115771&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/115771\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">enact the agency\u2019s suggestions<\/a>, but they are legally required to cooperate with GAO\u2019s requests for information and auditing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The GAO and a Democratic congressional aide who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity, though, say that the agencies investigated by the GAO for the DOGE report\u2014the CFPB, the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs (VA), the Department of Education, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Small Business Administration (SBA)\u2014all, in one way or another, refused to cooperate with the investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cWe have experienced increased challenges in obtaining information from agencies over the past year and a half,\u201d GAO spokesperson Sarah Kaczmarek says. \u201cAs this report demonstrates, when agencies do not provide requested information, it can limit GAO\u2019s ability to provide Congress and the public with assurance that federal programs, systems, and information are appropriately managed and protected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/democrats-are-gearing-up-to-investigate-the-trump-administration-it-wont-be-so-easy\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As polls indicate Democrats could take back the US House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate, lawmakers are gearing up to investigate the Trump administration. But that may prove to be a difficult task, even with a majority in both chambers of Congress. In late September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[420,150,130,129,50,75],"class_list":["post-8720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-congress","tag-doge","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-government","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democrats Are Gearing Up to Investigate the Trump Administration. 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