Why Senate Democrats have shied away from Trump investigations — so far: report

When Republicans won a small majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022, critics predicted that they would waste federal taxpayer dollars with pointless investigations of President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. And sure enough, Biden family-related probes have been a priority for House Republicans —including House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky).

Veteran journalist Mark Hosenball, in an article published by The New Republic on December 1, poses a question: Why aren't Democrats in the U.S. Senate — where they have a small majority under Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) — investigating the Trump family the way House Republicans have been investigating the Bidens?

A Democratic source, interviewed on condition of anonymity, offered some reasons.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

The source told The New Republic, "One, Democrats simply have other priorities, including a robust policy agenda that they want to focus on. And two, there's no evidence to suggest that additional investigations of Trump would damage or influence his political prospects. In fact, the opposite is likely true. He is already under indictment in three separate places — what other evidence could senators help to uncover that he is manifestly unfit for office?"

One of the things Senate Democrats could investigate, according to Hosenball, is former White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner's Saudi connections.

But the Democratic source told The New Republic, "Partisan attacks from Congress would likely only cause his base to further rally around him. And for what it's worth, there's no evidence that the House Republican partisan stunts attacking the president's family are actually doing anything other than showing what a devoted family man our current president is — a stark contrast from his thrice-married predecessor."

READ MORE: 'Imbalance of coverage': Biden campaign aims to amplify Trump's 'slurring' and 'erratic behavior'

Mark Hosenball's full report for The New Republic is available at this link.