Federal Prosecutor Demands Warren Preserve Records, Saying She Wants to Wield Her Gavel ‘Like a Tomahawk’
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz of the Southern District of Texas on Sunday demanded that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) preserve records tied to her planned investigations of people close to President Donald Trump, accusing her of hunting “for the scalps” of Trump’s associates.
Reitz posted the letter on X, writing that Warren “is on the warpath to wield her committee gavel like a tomahawk, seeking the scalps of those who associate ‘too closely’ with President Trump.” He called the letter “my first arrow shot.”
The letter and post are “replete with puns and references to Native Americans,” Politico reported. Trump and his allies have long mocked Warren over her past claims of Native American heritage.
Warren is in line to chair the Senate Banking Committee when Democrats take control of the chamber in January, and she is preparing an aggressive oversight agenda, according to Politico.
Reitz built his case on Warren’s Nov. 8 “Face the Nation” interview, where she said, “If you’ve been making your profits by cheating American families and scamming your investors, you better get ready for some investigations, serious ones,” Newsweek reported.
The letter also cites a Time op-ed in which Warren accused Trump of turning the government into “a corruption machine,” and a Nov. 11 letter she sent with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) to Trump fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke.
“The American people are entitled to freely associate without their elected officials terrorizing them with aggressive, harassing government action,” Reitz wrote, adding that Warren’s “war cries” may violate that right.
He gave Warren until 6 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 23 to confirm she has received the letter and is preserving the material. The demand covers her staff, consultants and campaign personnel, and warns that failing to comply “may carry significant legal consequences.”
Third Letter to a Senate Democrat
The letter cites 18 U.S.C. sections 241 and 242, federal criminal civil rights laws. A preservation demand is not a subpoena or court order and does not charge anyone with a crime, Newsweek noted.
It is Reitz’s third such warning to a Senate Democrat. He sent earlier demands to Blumenthal and to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). Blumenthal called his letter “baseless” and demanded that Reitz preserve his own records, Newsweek reported.
White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X that “Democrats like Elizabeth Warren are looking to weaponize their positions against people who are simply close to President Trump,” Newsweek reported.
White House chief of staff Stephen Miller reposted the letter with just the words “18 USC 241 and 242.”
White House counsel Will Scharf, who warned Garcia in a letter last week, went further on “Fox News Sunday.” He promised a “vigorous” response to Democrats’ oversight threats, the Washington Examiner reported.
“If that’s the approach that they’re going to take, they’re going to be met with a vigorous response from my office and from the Department of Justice every single time,” Scharf said.
Warren had not publicly responded by Sunday evening. Garcia, the expected House Oversight chairman, told NPR last week that Democrats are “certainly not going to be intimidated by Donald Trump or anyone in the administration,” Newsweek reported.
Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.
