Trump Orders DOJ to Investigate Democrats Who Pledged Oversight; Blanche Will Not Rule Out Prosecuting Lawmakers

On Saturday President Trump said in Truth Social posts that he had ordered the Justice Department to look into what he called threats by Democrats after the Republican midterm defeat. He accused Democrats of threatening Republican donors with imprisonment and Attorney General Todd Blanche and other administration officials with impeachment, POLITICO reported. “The imprisonment should be against these EXTORTIONISTS,” he wrote, and: “By copy of this statement, I am ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act, immediately!” He singled out Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), accusing her of threatening young people who hold Republican views; in a speech before the election she said she hoped to deter young people coming out of school from joining the administration.

On Sunday Blanche refused to rule out prosecuting Democratic lawmakers who say they will investigate administration officials, Axios reported. He did not identify a criminal statute or confirm that an investigation had begun. He singled out incoming House Oversight Committee Chair Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who had told officials including incoming White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to “lawyer up”: “I would be very worried if I was a member on that committee,” Blanche told CNN. He also said the department would provide legal defense for administration officials facing congressional scrutiny. The department said: “We don’t comment on the existence or non-existence of investigations.” On Monday a letter to Blanche from Slotkin’s lawyer, Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, was made public; it said it “should not be hard to make clear that we do not live in an authoritarian regime where mere criticism of the powerful can land anyone in legal peril and possibly prison.”

In February, a federal grand jury rejected DOJ’s attempt to indict Slotkin and five other Democratic lawmakers over their video on unlawful military orders (2026-02-10–grand-jury-rejects-indictment-six-democratic-lawmakers). Earlier DOJ investigations of Democratic officials are at 2026-03-09–doj-retaliatory-investigations-democratic-officials.