Trump faces a blitz of investigations from Democratic-run House

Armed with subpoenas and along list of grievances, a small group of lawmakers will leadthe investigations poised to make U.S. President Donald Trump's lifea lot tougher now that Democrats have won a majority in the House of Representatives.

Using their control of House committees, they can demand tosee Trump's long-hidden tax returns, probe possible conflicts ofinterest from his business empire,and dig into any evidence ofcollusion between Russia and Trump's campaign team in the 2016election.

Trump said early on Wednesday that House investigationswould be countered by investigations of Democrats by the Senate,which remains in Republican hands after Tuesday's congressionalelections.

"If the Democrats think they are going to waste TaxpayerMoney investigating us at the House level, then we will likewisebe forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks ofClassified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Twocan play that game!" the president said on Twitter.

Democrats said Republican lawmakers will no longer be able to protect Trump from a watchfulCongress.

"The American people have demanded accountability from theirgovernment and sent a clear message of what they want fromCongress," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the New York Democratpoised to become chairman of the House judiciary committee, saidin a tweet after Democrats claimed the majority.

Trump "may not like it, but he and his administration willbe held accountable to our laws and to the American people."

Nadler, once described by Trump as "one of the mostegregious hacks in contemporary politics," is one of three prominent Democrats who have clashed with the president and who will take over key House committees when the new Congressconvenes in January.

The others are Elijah Cummings, who will almost certainlyhead the House oversight committee, and Adam Schiff of the intelligence committee, who wasslammed by the president as "sleazy."

Control of the committees where they are currently thehighest-ranking Democrats will give those lawmakers the powerto demand documents and testimony from White House officials andkey figures in Trump's campaign team and businesses, and toissue subpoenas if needed.

They will also have more money and staff for investigationsthat could delay or derail Trump's agenda.

"I plan to shine a light on waste, fraudand abuse in theTrump administration," Cummings said on Wednesday.

"I want to probe senior administration officials across thegovernment who have abused their positions of power and wastedtaxpayer money, as well as President Trump's decisions to act inhis own financial self-interest," he said in a statement.

The White House can respond to committee demands by citingexecutive privilege in some circumstances, but that will likelyresult in court battles.

Tax returns could set other probes in motion

A first salvo in the battle is expected to come fromRep. Richard Neal, the likely Democratic chairman ofthe tax-writing House ways and means committee.

He has not publicly clashed with Trump in the way Nadler,Schiff and Cummings have, but Neal has vowed to demand Trump'stax returns from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Such a move could set in motion a cascade of probes into anydisclosures the documents might hold.

Even before the election, Schiff said his committee wouldlook at allegations that Russian money may have been launderedthough Trump's businesses and that Moscow might have financialleverage over the president.

Nadler's panel would handle any effort to impeachTrump, depending on the outcome of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. electionsand possible Trump campaign collusion with Moscow.

The panel is expected to look for ways to protect Muellerand his probe from any Trump effort to torpedo the investigationor suppress its findings.

Trump denies any collusion by his campaign and has longdenounced Mueller's investigation as a witch hunt.

No rush to impeach

Nadler's committee is unlikely, however, to move quicklytoward impeachment. The New York Democrat has said that anyimpeachment effort must be based on evidence of action tosubvert the Constitution that is so overwhelming it wouldtrouble even some Trump supporters.

Nadler, Cummings and Schiff are expected to co-ordinate theirefforts, but still expect to seek bipartisan co-operation to avoidthe appearance of unbridled partisanship ahead of the 2020presidential election.

Still, Republicans accuse Democrats of preparing to abusetheir authority with political attacks on Trump and his allies. They predict a partisan drive that could backfire on Democrats,like the Republican effort to impeach former president BillClinton did in the 1990s.

"We thought it was a good idea politically to impeach BillClinton, and the public got mad at usand felt sorry for him," Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said in an interviewwith Reuters last month. "It could end up not working well forthemat all."

Michael Steel, a Republican strategist, said he believedDemocrats would overplay their investigative hand. "There will be irresistible pressure to overreach in their investigationsand ultimately impeach the president."

Cummings's team says his oversight committee will also focuson public issues including skyrocketing prescription drug costs,the opioid epidemic, voting rights, the census and the U.S. postal service.