White House Warns Democrats Over Planned Probes

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has issued a warning to Democrats over their planned probes into the Trump administration. It’s going as far as claiming that such investigations, which are a standard oversight function of Congress, may amount to “blatant criminality.” White House counsel Will Scharf issued the warning in a letter dated Monday to Rep. Robert Garcia, top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Garcia most likely would chair the powerful panel in the new Democratic-controlled Congress. Garcia said in response to the letter that “it appears Donald Trump has something to hide” and stressed that Congress’s investigative powers do not need the “permission of the White House.”