The White House will challenge some future congressional requests for documents and testimony related to President Donald Trump, his family and his business dealings. Administration Counsel to the President Will Scharf told Bloomberg that the executive branch would not commit in advance to complying with all subpoenas.
“The decision will depend on the content of the specific request and the nature of the investigation,” Scharf said. He noted that the White House was prepared to protect the president’s confidential conversations with corporate executives if they were related to official decisions made by the head of state.
Scharf added that communications between Trump and private individuals could fall under executive privilege. This position is based on an opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, according to which the protection may also cover conversations with outside advisers when they are related to official presidential decisions.
The new Congress will begin work in January 2027 after Democrats won control of the legislative body in the midterm elections. Robert Garcia is expected to chair the House Oversight Committee and has already signaled that he will use its powers to conduct broad-ranging investigations.
Democrats plan to examine how Trump’s and his family’s wealth and business interests have grown since his return to the White House. Potential areas of inquiry include government contracts, loans, regulatory decisions, financing for the White House ballroom, mineral deals and crypto projects linked to businesspeople close to the president.
Trump’s contacts with business representatives are also among the areas under discussion. According to RBC and Bloomberg, the companies that could come under scrutiny include manufacturers of unmanned systems, the crypto project World Liberty Financial and e-cigarette maker Juul Labs.
Particular attention could focus on Trump’s contact with Jensen Huang, who until recently was Nvidia’s chief executive officer. The Washington Post reported that Marco Rubio had passed the president CIA information about Huang’s alleged ties to Alice Huang, whom U.S. officials suspect of cooperating with Chinese intelligence.
The case gained significance because of Nvidia’s role in exporting artificial intelligence chips to China and because of Huang’s proximity to the president. Members of Congress may request documents and testimony about the administration’s decisions regarding the export of these technologies, as well as how the White House responded to the intelligence.
The White House has already warned Democrats that actions aimed at intimidating government officials could cross the line of what is permissible. Garcia dismissed the warning and said that the president was “obviously hiding something,” while Congress is an equal branch of government.
The dispute is expected to move to the courts if the administration refuses to comply with specific subpoenas. Thus, a protracted battle over the limits of executive privilege and congressional oversight powers could begin at the very start of the new congressional term.
Sources: rbc.ru, news.bloomberglaw.com, apnews.com