Elizabeth Warren is preparing to use a powerful Senate gavel against people and companies associated with President Trump.

Now a federal prosecutor has put her on notice: preserve the records, and do not use congressional power to punish Americans for their political associations.

U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz posted the two-page demand Sunday after Warren publicly promised investigations involving major corporations and private citizens tied to Trump.

Reitz argued that congressional oversight cannot be turned into retaliation for protected political association.

His letter cites 18 U.S.C. Sections 241 and 242, the federal civil-rights statutes covering conspiracies against protected rights and willful deprivation of rights under color of law.

ADVERTISEMENT

The demand covers Warren, her staff, consultants and campaign personnel. It instructs them to preserve documents, messages and electronically stored information tied to the planned investigations, and asks for written confirmation by 6 p.m. Eastern on November 23.

The Warren letter is not an isolated warning. One day earlier, Reitz said his office was also examining allegations that former Obama-Biden officials had urged foreign governments to gather evidence for possible future cases against Trump administration officials.

He called that alleged foreign coordination potentially illegal and promised that the Justice Department would investigate it.

Warren is expected to chair the Senate Banking Committee. She has said the panel will combine legislation with investigations of Wall Street, major technology companies and others she says may have broken the law.

Warren’s own Senate office says she and Senator Jeff Merkley demanded information from White House Counsel Will Scharf after former presidential teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez was accused of using advance knowledge of Trump speeches to profit on prediction-market contracts involving specific words in prepared remarks, conduct first flagged to regulators after a market review and followed by his departure from government. Their November 9 letter asked whether other employees had misused nonpublic information, what ethics safeguards and training were in place, how the White House investigated Perez, who knew about the conduct, whether mandatory compliance measures followed, and what additional action was taken after the allegations surfaced, with a detailed response, supporting records and an explanation of any disciplinary steps due November 23.

The senators also asked whether any other White House employee had traded on privileged information and whether staff receive mandatory training on prediction markets. That makes their request a defined inquiry into internal safeguards—not proof that every Trump associate is fair game for a sprawling political dragnet.

The official Commodity Futures Trading Commission consent order found that Perez used material nonpublic information to trade contracts based on words President Trump would say. The agency ordered him to pay $172,539.02 in disgorgement and civil penalties and barred him from trading for three years.

That enforcement case is real. But it does not give an incoming committee chair a blank check to drag unrelated private citizens through Washington because they supported the President.

White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller made clear that the administration is taking Reitz’s warning seriously. He amplified the letter Sunday with a direct reference to the two criminal statutes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Warren can investigate legitimate wrongdoing. What she cannot do is decide that supporting Trump is itself probable cause.

Democrats spent years condemning “weaponized government.” If their first move after winning Congress is to build target lists around political association, they should expect the Trump administration to fight back hard—and in court.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.