US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had asked the Department of Justice to investigate the Democrats' threat to exploit their control of Congress to isolate officials in his administration, accusing them of practicing "blackmail."
Trump now faces a completely different political scene, after the Democrats succeeded in controlling the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterm elections on Tuesday, and pledged to open investigations targeting officials in his Republican administration, including Attorney General Todd Blanche and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Democrats continue to threaten many people,” Trump said in a post on his platform, Truth Social.
He added that these practices "amount to the highest levels of blackmail, and they must be held accountable," noting that officials of his Republican administration did not commit any practices that require impeachment, according to Agence France-Presse.
He indicated that he had issued instructions to the Ministry of Justice to “investigate this criminal act,” adding that “prison should be the fate of these extortionists.”
With their control of committees in both chambers, Democrats can subpoena officials and demand that they submit documents and hold public hearings, thus tightening oversight of Trump and his senior aides.
The alleged investigations are likely to include business deals concluded by Trump and members of his family, his activities related to cryptocurrencies, government contracts linked to billionaire Elon Musk, cuts to federal agencies and immigration enforcement measures, as well as the management of the war in Iran and the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The US administration's refusal to provide testimony or documents threatens to spark legal battles.
Democrats could launch, for the third time, procedures to impeach Trump, although party leaders have not yet committed to doing so.
While impeachment requires a simple majority in the House of Representatives, removing the president requires a vote of two-thirds of the Senate, a number that far exceeds the Democrats' share of seats in it.
The American newspaper “The Washington Post” said that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is preparing to seek the Republican Party’s nomination again for the 2028 presidential elections, according to three people familiar with the matter.
She added that this trend comes in the wake of the steadfastness of Florida, its political stronghold, as one of the few conservative strongholds that survived the Democrats’ sweeping victories in the midterm elections.
“Not breaching Florida's strongholds gives DeSantis more credibility than almost anyone else has in the early stages of the 2028 race,” says Dan Eberhart, a prominent Republican donor and energy executive who represented DeSantis' unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign.
According to a person close to him — who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations — DeSantis has already reached out to at least one political adviser about working on his campaign, and his political action committee sent out fundraising text messages this week, another move that those close to him took as an indication he intends to run.
The governor's allies believe there is a good political opportunity, especially after voters categorically rejected President Donald Trump's agenda this week.
DeSantis described the election results as “an event that almost threatens the very existence of the Republican Party,” and in a press conference held in Tallahassee, he said: “It is the political equivalent of a meteorite colliding with the Earth. It affected the entire United States, whether the blue (Democratic) states, the red (Republican) states, or something in between.”
After the report was published, DeSantis posted a statement on social media denying it, writing: “I have not contacted anyone about running for any office.”
Before Tuesday, Vice President J.D. Vance was viewed as the president's political heir and front-runner in the emerging 2028 race; This is an assumption that has been completely dispelled after the widespread popular rejection of Republicans and the policies of the current administration.
The person close to DeSantis stated that the latter realized, through his experience in the 2024 elections, that he needed to intensify his media appearance if he wanted to achieve success. He also concluded that he should not wait too long before entering the presidential race.
In 2023, he chose to wait out the Florida legislative session. This waiting period gave Trump's team ample time to define and attack his political identity.
DeSantis took advantage of the losses suffered by the Republican Party this week to appear in prominent media outlets, such as Fox News and others, and present himself as an alternative to Trump's political approach.
He has also sought to distinguish himself from other Republican politicians by taking specific positions on artificial intelligence, and has expressed strong opposition to the construction of data centers in Florida.
DeSantis' bid to win the party's nomination in 2024 ended with his withdrawal ahead of the New Hampshire primary. He came in second place in the 2024 Iowa caucus elections, obtaining 21.3 percent of the votes, which is a very far cry from Trump, who won more than 50 percent.
