
It appears the Trump administration is taking action against Democrats, threatening more investigations now that they won back control of the House and Senate.
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz on Wednesday sent a letter to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) instructing him to preserve every document, communication, and piece of electronically stored information related to his investigations — especially the probe into donors who privately funded President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project.
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Reitz warned of sanctions and other punishments if Blumenthal refuses to comply. The U.S. attorney believes the lawmaker’s letters to donors threatened citizens for associating with President Trump, which could violate First Amendment rights to speech and association.
In a post on X, Reitz argued, “Congress is not a weapon to be wielded against the American people” and said he is “taking the first step to stop this abuse of power.”
Blumenthal responded on Wednesday, saying he would not be intimidated and vowing to “vigorously pursue investigations into this Administration’s persistent misuse of taxpayer dollars and any corporate entity that has enabled their boundless corruption.”
Blumenthal’s office sent its own letter to Reitz, instructing him to preserve all records “related to the decision to draft and post your letter,” including all communications with the White House and senior Justice Department officials.
In a post on X, he characterized Reitz’s actions as part of a “series of unlawful actions on the part of the Trump Admin attempting to intimidate Members of Congress for engaging in constitutionally protected activity.”
This investigation into me for conducting a congressional inquiry is just the latest in a series of unlawful actions on the part of the Trump Admin attempting to intimidate Members of Congress for engaging in constitutionally protected activity. 1/ https://t.co/vrOvioHtC2
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) November 12, 2026
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This situation arose when Blumenthal sent letters in October to a list of individuals whom a Washington Post report identified as donors to the ballroom project. He suspected that the donors benefited from favorable government policy or actions, including regulatory decisions and government contracts, according to the Washington Examiner.
Two days after Democrats won Congress, the senator’s office sent a batch of letters to 58 different recipients. These included Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Lockheed Martin, Palantir and BlackRock, plus FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The letters demand that they hand over certain documents by January 4, 2027.
The White House also sent a letter warning House Democrats that their investigations could veer into criminal territory. Y. David Scharf, Chair of Morrison Cohen and a former Trump attorney, told Townall the letter was a “warning shot.”
The White House is telling the new majority that every subpoena will be fought, line by line, in court. Congress has every right to ask questions, but it doesn’t have the right to use those questions to punish people, and the Supreme Court made that clear a long time ago. When incoming chairs talk about jailing officials before they’ve asked a single question, they’re telling everyone this was never about oversight. It’s about revenge, and the courts will see it that way too.
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President Trump responded in a post on Truth Social in which he called Blumenthal’s letters “extortion at the highest level” and argued that “they should be held accountable for this.”
Trump also said he was “ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act, immediately!”
Attorney General Todd Blanche recently affirmed that the Department of Justice might investigate Democrat lawmakers if they employ threatening rhetoric.
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