“Oversight” is not a word Donald Trump has heard much from Congress during his first 22 months in office, but he’d better get used to the idea in a hurry. Democrats have retaken the House, and they intend to use their majority to take a good hard look at what Trump’s been getting up to. “Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans. It is about restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration,” Nancy Pelosi said.
Those checks and balances will be partially in the hands of Democratic committee chairs. That includes Rep. Elijah Cummings, who will chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:
”I want to look at all the things the president has done that go against the mandates of our Founding Fathers in the Constitution,” he declared. “We need accountability, transparency, integrity, and honesty from this Administration.”
“Right now, we have a president who is accountable to no one,” Cummings told CNN. That, he explained, is about to change.
It also includes Rep. Jerry Nadler, who’ll be taking the helm of the House Judiciary Committee, saying Trump is “going to learn he’s not above the law.”
The Trump administration is so far acting like this is not happening, in typical brazen-it-out fashion:
During an interview with CNN on Wednesday morning, [Kellyanne] Conway snarked “Respectfully, is this really what we’re talking about today?” when CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked if Trump would hand over his tax returns.
Yes, yes it is. Because elections have consequences and we’re going to be talking about it a lot more in the months to come.