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Starving the War Machine: How Democrats Plan to Defund Trump’s Foreign Policy · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Democrats are pumped, because they're about to run both chambers
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  Speaker 1: of Congress, and they've been promising a lot's going to change.
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  Speaker 1: If we win a majority in Congress, though, it's a
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  Speaker 1: whole different ballgame.
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  Speaker 2: We are committed to ensuring that we get justice for
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  Speaker 2: anyone that has wronged the American public.
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  Speaker 1: Which means they have newfound power, but only in some places.
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  Speaker 1: Here's how Democrats plan on using their power. Okay, so
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  Speaker 1: in the House of Representatives, there's a whole bunch of
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  Speaker 1: committees and leadership positions. But I want to focus on
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  Speaker 1: these three. They're all different, but that's where Democrats will
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  Speaker 1: shape their agenda. Okay, so starting with the House Oversight Committee,
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  Speaker 1: Democrats will now have a venue and a new tool
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  Speaker 1: to really investigate the Trump administration. I spoke to Annie Greyer,
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  Speaker 1: a senior politics reporter at CNN, to find out why.
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  Speaker 3: This committee has broad jurisdiction. over the entire federal government.
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  Speaker 3: So this committee can launch a number of investigations into
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  Speaker 3: essentially any facet of government.
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  Speaker 1: Under the old Congress, if Democrats wanted an answer, they
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  Speaker 1: could send a letter. like this one sent in October
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  Speaker 1: by the committee's top Democrat, Robert Garcia, to Trump's son-in-law,
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  Speaker 1: Jared Kushner. Kushner has acted as a diplomat in the
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  Speaker 1: Middle East while his investment firm, Affinity Partners, holds a
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  Speaker 1: major stake in Phoenix, an Israeli company with investments in
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  Speaker 1: nine military suppliers. Garcia wanted to review documents to establish
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  Speaker 1: if there was a conflict of interest between Kushner negotiating
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  Speaker 1: a ceasefire in Gaza while investing in a company that
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  Speaker 1: makes profits investing in arms manufacturing. that ultimately supplies arms
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  Speaker 1: to Israel. The White House simply dismissed Garcia's concerns because
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  Speaker 1: his letter was toothless. An attorney for Kushner told CNN
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  Speaker 1: Kushner has never participated in or directed Phoenix's decisions on
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  Speaker 1: where to invest. They added any suggestion that Jared's diplomatic
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  Speaker 1: work influenced Phoenix's investments is incorrect. But if you voted
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  Speaker 1: for a House Democrat, you likely will have helped turn
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  Speaker 1: this into this. Same paper, same letterhead. weigh different consequences.
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  Speaker 3: A subpoena compels testimony. There's legal weight behind it.
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  Speaker 1: Subpoenas are powerful. But what if the Trump administration doesn't
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  Speaker 1: respect that power?
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  Speaker 3: They can pursue that matter in court. They can try
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  Speaker 3: and hold them in contempt of Congress, which would then
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  Speaker 3: make it an issue that the Department of Justice has
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  Speaker 3: to weigh in on.
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  Speaker 1: Garcia's letter is, hang on a second, one of hundreds
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  Speaker 1: that Democrats have sent on issues they want to get
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  Speaker 1: to the bottom of.
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  Speaker 3: They want to investigate all of Trump's projects around D.C.
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  Speaker 1: Allegations of mistreatment at ICE detention centers.
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  Speaker 3: The Iran war, how it started and why.
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  Speaker 1: Whether Trump's $ 1. 8 billion settlement with the IRS has been
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  Speaker 1: used to reward political allies.
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  Speaker 3: Trump's sons, potential contracts that they had with defense companies.
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  Speaker 1: The Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the amount of corruption is staggering. I think
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  Speaker 2: the American public want there to be checks and balances.
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  Speaker 1: The Trump administration and those involved have defended their actions
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  Speaker 1: in every instance, from the Iran war. This course of
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  Speaker 1: action was necessary, lawful and effective. To the Epstein files.
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  Speaker 2: We did not protect President Trump. We didn't protect or
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  Speaker 2: not protect anybody.
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  Speaker 1: To the D.C. construction projects.
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  Speaker 2: There's not one dime of government money going into the ballroom.
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  Speaker 1: They deny any foul play. Democrats can not only investigate
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  Speaker 1: the Trump administration, but they can shape who joins it.
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  Speaker 1: Unlike the sources of power that comes from the House,
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  Speaker 1: this one comes from the Senate, which the Democrats now
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  Speaker 1: also have a majority in.
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  Speaker 3: As president, Trump can nominate the most powerful positions in government.
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  Speaker 1: From cabinet roles to federal judges and even Supreme Court justices.
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  Speaker 1: But the Senate votes to confirm those appointments. The Supreme
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Court's two oldest justices are Samuel Alito, 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: If either seat becomes vacant in the next two years,
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  Speaker 1: Trump can appoint a replacement, but would need the Democratic-controlled
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Senate to confirm them.
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  Speaker 3: Now that Democrats are in control of the Senate, it's
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  Speaker 3: very unlikely that Trump would be able to pass any
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  Speaker 3: more Supreme Court justices through the end of his term.
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  Speaker 1: And there's precedent for this. In 2016, when President Barack Obama,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: a Democrat, nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, the
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  Speaker 1: Republican-controlled Senate refused to vote on his confirmation. The seat
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: stayed vacant until Trump took office and appointed Neil Gorsuch.
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  Speaker 1: So let's get to impeachment. That's what the House Judiciary
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  Speaker 1: Committee has the power to do.
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  Speaker 3: The House Judiciary Committee oversees the entire federal justice system.
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  Speaker 3: They are the committee that is responsible for moving forward
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  Speaker 3: with impeachment.
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  Speaker 1: But that's just impeachment, which only needs half the House
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  Speaker 1: to vote through. They can impeach him, but that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean they can remove him.
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  Speaker 3: It is very unlikely that they're going to be able
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  Speaker 3: to meet that two-thirds threshold in the Senate for Trump
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  Speaker 3: to actually be convicted and removed from office.
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  Speaker 1: Trump was impeached in 2019 and 2021. but wasn't convicted.
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  Speaker 2: If you become the leader or the Democrats become the
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  Speaker 2: majority in the House, are you open to pursuing impeachment
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  Speaker 2: of President Trump or are you ruling that out?
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  Speaker 1: Well, we've made clear we haven't ruled anything in and
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  Speaker 1: we haven't ruled anything out. Impeachment doesn't stop with Trump.
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  Speaker 1: Lawmakers from both parties have separately introduced articles of impeachment
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  Speaker 1: against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In September, Thomas Massey tried
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  Speaker 1: to force a vote, but it didn't happen because House
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  Speaker 1: Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home for the midterm recess
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  Speaker 1: one day early.
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  Speaker 3: Do you believe that it was because of your introduction
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  Speaker 3: of those articles of impeachment is the reason lawmakers went
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  Speaker 3: home early today? I know it was. Again, even if
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  Speaker 3: he were to be impeached in the House, he still
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  Speaker 3: would have to go through conviction and removal and the Senate.
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  Speaker 3: And because of that two thirds threshold, it's still pretty unlikely.
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  Speaker 1: While some Democrats want to challenge the Trump administration, others
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  Speaker 1: want to get to work on legislation. Which brings us
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  Speaker 1: to the Speaker of the House, who decides which bills
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  Speaker 1: the House votes on.
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  Speaker 3: On the campaign trail, Democrats have made a lot of
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  Speaker 3: promises about the legislation that they were going to pursue.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Lori Gillen, and I'll work with anyone if it
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  Speaker 2: lowers your costs.
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  Speaker 3: Taking on corporate greed.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to fight every day to lower costs. So
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  Speaker 1: a Democratic Speaker of the House can now decide, let's
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  Speaker 1: vote on this bill. And they'd have the votes to
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  Speaker 1: move it up to the Senate. Which they also control,
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  Speaker 1: but not by the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.
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  Speaker 1: And Trump can veto anything that hits his desk. Democrats
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  Speaker 1: would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override
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  Speaker 1: that veto. So for the next two years, any lawmaking
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  Speaker 1: is going to require bipartisan cooperation. Can the Democrats and
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  Speaker 1: Republicans work together on stuff to try to make things
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  Speaker 1: move forward?
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  Speaker 3: There are some issues in Congress where we've seen bipartisanship
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  Speaker 3: and lawmakers reaching across the aisle and working together. So
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  Speaker 3: one of those issues is AI regulation. And another is
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  Speaker 3: stock trading. There have been a number of bipartisan bills
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  Speaker 3: that started in the last Congress that maybe we could
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  Speaker 3: see come to fruition now that Democrats are in control.
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  Speaker 1: So the Democrats have all this newfound power, but now
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  Speaker 1: they have to decide how to use it.
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  Speaker 3: There are some Democrats who say we can't just make
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  Speaker 3: our agenda all about going after Trump again now that
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  Speaker 3: we have this position of power. We need to actually
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  Speaker 3: carry out our campaign promises and make people's lives more affordable.
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  Speaker 3: But then you have other Democrats specifically those on the
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  Speaker 3: left who say the president has broken the law. We
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  Speaker 3: believe that he has committed impeachable offenses. How the different
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  Speaker 3: factions in the Democratic Party feel about those two things
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  Speaker 3: is going to be the storyline that we are going
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  Speaker 3: to be coming back to again and again as Democrats
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  Speaker 3: are in power.
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  Speaker 1: In a sense, is there real power to shape the
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  Speaker 1: story leading up to the next presidential election?
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  Speaker 3: They have the ability to control the messaging in a
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  Speaker 3: way that they weren't really able to do in the minority.
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  Speaker 3: And I think Democrats see that as their runway towards 2028.
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  Speaker 3: It's exhausting to think about, but the clock starts now.