Trump, DOJ Defiant as Democrats Plan Investigations

Trump set the mood himself. On social media, he called the investigative requests Democrats have already sent "extortion at the highest level" and said those behind them should be held accountable. Attorney General Todd Blanche backed him up on the Sunday news shows, saying criminal investigations of Democrats are possible.

Blanche argued that people can't go around threatening current members of the administration or threatening companies, and said that's what worries the president. Democrats appeared on the same programs to explain what the election results mean and what comes next, so viewers heard both sides lay out their positions on the very same morning.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California is expected to chair the powerful House Oversight Committee in the next Congress. He is preparing probes of what he calls the "Trump crime family," and he says Democrats won't be intimidated. In his words, the days of not fighting back are over.

The standoff is likely to define Trump's last two years in office and to test how much power Congress has to check the White House. According to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 midterm voters, about 7 in 10 say Congress isn't doing enough on that front. That gives Democrats some public backing for oversight, though how far they push it is still an open question.

Democrats have made clear that impeachment is on the table. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said anyone who has been shortchanging, cheating or stealing from the American people should be held accountable in a way that fits Congress's constitutional role.

Not everyone in the party wants to go that way. Many Democrats warn that their main promise to voters, lowering the cost of living, has to come first. Some worry that their big Tuesday wins, which gave them healthy majorities in the House and Senate, will be short-lived if conflict with Trump takes over the agenda.

Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton, the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas in 94 years, said he's more interested in setting up guardrails than in impeachment. He added that some investigations are necessary. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said Trump must be held accountable but that Congress can't spend all its time investigating him.

Jeffries, who is close to becoming the nation's first Black House speaker, also criticized Trump's pick of longtime adviser Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as chief of staff. He called Miller an awful choice and doubted there would be a chance to work with him. Miller helped design Trump's mass deportation effort, and about 6 in 10 voters in the AP poll said immigration enforcement has gone too far.

Jeffries said he backs a pending resolution from Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and that Democrats would discuss it when they return to the Capitol this week. Hegseth dismissed the push in a video as the politics of personal destruction that won't work on him.

There are signs of friction inside the Democratic caucus as well. Hamilton said he told Schumer he means no disrespect, but that the New Yorker is polarizing in Kansas and he'd prefer a leader who can work from the center. Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, whom Schumer didn't back in the primary, said they figured out how to work together after Schumer put $67 million into his general election campaign. Schumer is expected to be reelected as party leader.

Showdown Looms Between Trump and Democrats

Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche are taking a combative stance after Democrats' midterm wins, calling investigative requests extortion and suggesting criminal probes of Democrats are possible.

House Democrats are preparing aggressive investigations and debating impeachment, but some in the party want the focus kept on lowering the cost of living.