They may not have the gavels yet, but House Democrats are laying the groundwork for a number of investigations into Donald Trump should they win control of Congress in November.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. — who’s set to chair the House Oversight Committee in a Democratic majority — told MS NOW that his team is “already preparing and gearing up.”

“We’ve got a team on Epstein, we have a team on [Trump] family corruption, we have a team on DHS and ICE,” Garcia said. “Those teams are actively working on preparation, letters, research.”

  • dizzle18@lemmy.zip
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    5 days ago

    “Preparation, letters, and research.” You better watch out, Trump administration. You’ve got some strongly worded letters COMING IN HOT. The concern that Democrats are feeling right now will be fucking PALBABLE from coast to coast.

    • Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world
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      Seriously, it feels like people think Dems should be building an oubliette right now. The process of rooting out and punishing corruption/incompetence starts with investigations (if you don’t have absolute power) - so they’d better be damn ready to hit the ground running

      • orlyowl@piefed.ca
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        The problem was nearly four years of “this time we’re really gonna get Trump” in the context of the J6 investigation, the documents he hoarded in his bathroom, etc, and not a damn thing actually happened. The man is white and wealthy and we had four years to see what white and wealthy gets you - teflon skin apparently.

        So it’s a little bit hard to imagine dems coming out hard enough to secure consequences of any kind for him. I’m hopeful, sure, and I’m glad they are planning. What I lack faith in is the effectiveness of the plans.

        • SparroHawc@piefed.world
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          There was a lot getting lined up, and then the fucker got re-elected. I’m pretty sure he would have faced consequences if he wasn’t president.

          He’s spent his entire second term dismantling the nation, probably in part to try to make sure it doesn’t actually have the ability to punish him.

          • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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            He’d already secured his wins when McConnell gave home the Supreme Court and shit loads of lower court appointments. (Eileen Cannon especially).

            Now it’s even worse.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        I think a big problem is people saying “the Dems” like politicians, the party, fundraisers, and everyone else are in lockstep.

        That’s how it used to work, but we quit that shit over a year ago. For good reason. A giant organization controlling everything is the antithesis of the Democratic party.

        But yeah, we can’t afford to pull another Biden where day 1 we “start to discuss if we should investigate if it’s time to worry about ____”.

        New congress is 7 months away, and they’ve got midterms and 2 months of vacation between now and then.

        We don’t have as much time as people think, we absolutely should have shit ready.

      • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        building an oubliette

        An oubliette is where you put someone to forget about them, and these shitheels should be remembered forever as cautionary tales, both on what can happen if you get too casual about letting corrupt fucks into positions of power, and on what can happen to you if you’re a corrupt fuck and you try to fuck around too corruptly and get caught with your dick in the cookie jar.

    • jaaake@lemmy.world
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      I think everyone agrees, we just don’t have faith that it’ll bear fruit. There’s been someone in the party doing this since Trump won his first primary, but they’ve always been stopped at some level by ANY degree of opposition, from thinly veiled foot dragging to blatant corruption.

    • Malyca@lemmy.zip
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      What they should be doing is clearing the party of establishment aipac pieces of shit, because the voters won’t let it go this time just because they don’t want Trump.

      • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@feddit.uk
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        I mean, I’d love that. I don’t know enough procedure to say whether that’s an actual option for them. Someone should at least be pointedly asking them to do so.

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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      Shouldn’t they be gearing up to make Trump serve appropriate sentencing for the crimes he’s already been convicted of? Hasn’t he been convicted of enough felonies to serve a life sentence?

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    Much questioning takes place. Much time is wasted. Many strong statements issued. Democrats fail to make real change or prevent the situation from worsening.

    Nothing happens.

  • Murse@slrpnk.net
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    Maybe prosecute for the myriad of blatantly illegal shit that’s already public knowledge, then investigate the rest once he’s already in prison?

    We’re going to be investigating this fucker’s crimes for the next 50 years.

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      If and when we take back the power that’s being gerrymandered out of our grasp currently, we’ll begin investigating his actions and ultimately applaud ourselves when we confirm what is already very, very obvious. He might be dead of natural causes but at least we investigated. Meanwhile, every one suffering the wrath of his ego and the cruelty of his minions just needs to sit tight and trust the process.

      Nah Robert, fuck you and your plans. Fuck your party and your committees. You’re useless sacks of shit who’ve squandered power in the past and will squander it again once (if) you take it back while the innocent suffer and die at the hands of this regime. Too little, too late. I hope history records for posterity that the ineptitude of the Democrats, while not equal to the crimes of MAGA, is like modern day Chamberlains. Ya fucked around and the rest of us have to be the ones who found out.

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    They had nearly a decade to do ANYTHING about Trump, the Epstein files, etc. nothing is going to functionally change because these people are complicit. Enough of them on both sides are also compromised and implicated or simply bribed.

    The same song and dance they’ve been putting on for decades. “Oh we can’t do anything unless we control the house and the Senate! Just wait till we’re in charge! We’re gonna fix everything” And then comes the infighting, lack policy, and eventual capitulating to corporate interests.

    What makes you think they’re gonna do anything about any of the shit now?

    • ziproot@lemmy.ml
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      They also can’t do anything about it even if they wanted to. You need a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict.

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        You do realize that the Epstein files potentially implicate many people in high positions?

        You do realize that performing investigations and to all of these people and also removing them from Congress would likely lead to new people getting elected and therefore moving closer to the 2/3 majority needed to impeach?

        There are things that can be done other than whining about we don’t have the votes in the Senate. They’ve had a decade of Trumps bullshit and Bidens stalling and failing do anything about it. And your argument is they don’t have votes in the Senate?

        is there no way to implicate and remove those who are also involved in high levels of government?

        How can you only argument for a solution be weight for decades until there’s 2/3 majority to impeach? What kind of defeatist attitude is this?

        There needs to be political will to cleanse the government Of these sick perverted corporate backed corrupt politicians, no matter what party or state they come from.

  • Blumpkinhead@lemmy.world
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    Yeah, I’d really like to hear what the plan is to un-fuck everything if they retake Congress. And Jesus tittyfucking Christ, stop focusing only on Trump. There’s a whole horde of gouls pulling the strings behind him, and they need to be stopped. Trump is just a pedophile figurehead.

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    Trump investigations? That’s it?

    How bout a fucking tribunal for Hegseth?

    How about establishing a Robinhood reimbursement committee.

    Start there.

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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      Didn’t trump already get convicted for a bunch of stuff? Doesn’t seem like he received any sentencing. I’d say start there and throw his ass in prison.

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    investigations

    Maybe we should go ahead and treat Trump the way he’s treated the American citizenry? Particularly immigrant or marginalized groups? Tell me again why an investigation is necessary?

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        That’s crazy, how many deportations were held in civil courts again? Also, in what kind of court was Trump found guilty of sexual misconduct/assault?

        I’ll give you one guess.

        • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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          Are you implying that people go to civil court without investigating anything? I’m not sure what your point is.

          • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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            The overwhelming majority of deportations we’re seeing from the Trump admin are carried out through civil courts. You know, the ones where people are being sent to concentration camps or countries they don’t belong in. Donald Trump was held civilly liable of sexual misconduct and assault through a civil court. It’s what the right wing trogs constantly cite as a reason why they don’t accept the charges.

            What I’m declaring is that if a civil court is good enough to upend someone’s life without due process then Donald Trump should go straight to fucking jail — no?

            • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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              So you believe that since trump abused the legal system, we should legitimize that by abusing it to punish him. That’s what I thought you were saying. No. We’re better than trump. This is childish eye for an eye bullshit that has no place in civil society.

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                What the hell do you mean, better than Trump? We don’t need to prove that Trump should be in jail, he was held liable for sexual assault and is mentioned in the unredacted Epstein Files over a million times.

                He’s been investigated. Israel bought the govt for him and now it’s all ‘whoops, dropped another bomb on brown people again… butterfingers haha!’. Meanwhile people like you are trying to claim we should take the fucking high road while people are fucking dying.

                No this is not childish eye for an eye bullshit. This is a fucking reckoning a long time in the making, long before this term.

                • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
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                  We don’t need to prove that Trump should be in jail, he was held liable for sexual assault

                  …in a lawsuit, with a completely different burden of proof than a criminal trial. Nobody’s proven he should be in jail for that to the standards that criminal charges require.

                  and is mentioned in the unredacted Epstein Files over a million times

                  And he hasn’t been tried for it. He should be. But he hasn’t. I’m not willing to advocate for ignoring the process simply because I don’t like the guy.

                  The only thing he’s actually been convicted of are the NYS felonies. And he should be in jail for those. But this attitude of ‘throw the book at him and to hell with the legal system’ is absolutely childish eye for an eye bullshit. That’s banana Republic shit. That’s how MAGA thinks. Do you want to act like MAGA?

                  people like you are trying to claim we should take the fucking high road while people are fucking dying

                  People like me are trying to claim that you don’t defeat trump by becoming trump.

  • underThunder@thelemmy.club
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    When am I going to start hearing democrats talk about what they’re going to do to fix the country when they regain power? Or is the whole plan just “Trump is bad”?

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      We saw what happened when they tried to ignore MAGA during the Biden administration - they came roaring back, far worse than ever.

      Any plan for the future MUST start with purging MAGA from our government and society. MAGA and it’s prototypes have been fucking up forward progress in this nation for decades, and it is time to deal with them once and for all.

      We all have our Progressive Priorities, mine are Campaign Finance Reform, Universal Health Care, College Loan Forgiveness, Free College/ Vocational Training, and a National Educational Curriculum, with a strong emphasis on Critical Thinking Skills. Others value things like Child Care, Family Leave, etc., all valid. But we’ll never even get to have discussions about any of those things, as long as MAGA is causing deliberate chaos and mayhem as an opposition strategy.

      We are at a crossroads in America, and MAGA understands that they need to crush and purge Democrats so they can steal EVERYTHING. Dems have to meet that head on with STRONGER, RIGHTEOUS energy, so we can save America.

      Then we can talk about moving forward with a progressive agenda. We have a Civil War to win first.

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      bout what they’re going to do to fix the country when they regain power?

      There are only a handful of democrats. The rest are there for show.

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        You need a double line break to force a new line.

        There are only a handful of democrats. The rest are there for show.

        At a point when do we stop saying they are not true democrats, and instead realize this is the truth of the democratic party?

  • ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com
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    -teenage me explaining my intentions to work on homework before locking myself in a room with my Xbox to play halo all night

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    Enforced by who? They can literally ignore subpoenas without consequences.