A conservative lawyer and staunch advocate for President Donald Trump is warning his fellow Republicans in Congress that they may be putting themselves in jeopardy if they try to block legitimate investigations into corruption in the Trump administration.
In a Townhall column on Friday, Josh Hammer, a senior counsel at the Article III Project, a conservative, pro-Trump legal organization, slammed Democrats’ stated intentions to investigate the White House when they take power in Congress in January. Hammer, a columnist, did admit that corruption is a legitimate concern.
“Congressional Republicans risk obstructing investigations on such grounds at their peril,” he wrote.
The midterm elections last week left Republicans with Democrats in control of both chambers. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, told the administration to “lawyer up” the night of the elections. Garcia said his committee plans to investigate the “Trump Crime Family,” as he puts it, corporate corruption, abuses at the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Garcia has told the administration’s new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, to lawyer up.
Hammer also cited a post on X in which Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-N.J.) said Democrats would throw around subpoenas like Mardi Gras beads.
But Hammer also said that Democrats were mostly just out to make the administration’s life miserable. He agreed with the administration’s lawyer, Will Scharf, who said in a letter to Garcia that investigations by Congress must be for a valid legislative purpose. Scharf, in the letter, warned that failing to identify one would be an abuse of power.
Hammer, a former clerk at a federal appeals court who has gone on to become a pundit, argued that Congress should do its work within the bounds of the Constitution. He said the Constitution envisioned only “few and defined” federal powers, according to a statement by James Madison in Federalist No. 45. He also noted Chief Justice John Marshall’s 1819 statement in McCulloch v. Maryland that Congress’s ends must be legitimate. Investigations to fundraise or to boost cable ratings do not count, he argued.
Hammer also said that the executive and legislative branches should settle subpoena disputes through the usual process of negotiation, citing a 1977 ruling by the federal appeals court in Washington.
Hammer noted that Democrats also campaigned on addressing affordability and the cost of living. He urged them to use Congress to pass laws that would make life better for regular Americans. The Framers gave Congress a Commerce Clause, Hammer said, but not one for retribution.
Garcia himself has linked his planned investigations to Democrats’ messaging on affordability. He has said families have to decide whether to buy gas or groceries while the well-connected line their own pockets.