President Donald Trump with members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in 2025
An appointee of President Donald Trump — who once recused himself from overseeing Trump’s controversial slush fund because he’d planned to tap it for himself — is headed out, sources tell Bloomberg Law.
“The Justice Department’s top Capitol Hill liaison, Patrick Davis, is stepping down ahead of an anticipated rush of congressional oversight if Democrats win control of at least one chamber,” reports Bloomberg Law. “Davis, a seasoned Republican investigator in both the Senate and House, will resign at the end of October — one year after he was sworn in to lead DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs, said three people familiar with the matter.
Davis initially served as acting chief of the office starting on the first day of Trump’s second term, but he later became a top Justice Department official who made news after plotting to make bank on Trump’s controversial "anti-weaponization" fund. His plan raised alarms at the agency, as he was set to be involved in the communication strategy with lawmakers approving or killing the fund.
“Davis raised his plan to file a claim with others at the DOJ in May because he viewed it as a conflict," reported Politico. "DOJ officials were concerned by Davis’ recusal request in part because he was responsible for communicating the department’s reasons for setting up the fund to lawmakers. Davis works as the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, a Senate-confirmed position, and previously served as a top aide to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa."
His plan to make a claim from the fund arose from his time as a congressional staffer, when government officials subpoenaed his phone and email records regarding the 'Russiagate' investigation — the probe into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and Trump’s alleged ties to Moscow. Politico reported that it was unclear how much money Davis sought from the fund, if any, but the proposed fund would have also offered formal apologies in addition to cash.
Two administration officials speaking with Politico griped that Davis didn’t have a valid reason to recuse himself because the fund hadn’t been formally set up, and that Davis would have been valuable in preparing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (Trump’s former defense attorney) for his brutal grilling on Capitol Hill.
“It was a hard issue and he just didn’t want to deal with it and didn’t want to be there to address the difficult conversations,” one official told Politico. “The thing was a cop-out.”
Cop out or no, Bloomberg Law reports Davis appears to be fleeing D.C. as Democrats are poised to flip the House and possibly the Senate in November. Trump officials are already scrambling for lawyers as they prepare for an ‘avalanche’ of congressional investigations when Democrats take one or both chambers, according to sources.
