Federal Prosecutor Warns Blumenthal Over Ballroom Donor Probe, but He Says ‘I Will Not Be Intimidated’
A federal prosecutor has ordered Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to preserve records from his investigation of White House ballroom donors, accusing him of threatening Americans for associating with President Donald Trump.
Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, warned in a Wednesday letter of “significant legal consequences” if Blumenthal does not comply, NBC News reported.
Reitz cited two federal civil rights laws: the conspiracy against rights statute and the law barring deprivation of rights under color of law. He posted the letter on X and said, “I’m taking the first step to stop this abuse of power.”
“In recent weeks, you have threatened citizens for associating themselves with the president and other public officials,” Reitz wrote, UPI reported. “The American people are entitled to freely associate without elected officials terrorizing them with aggressive, harassing government action.”
The letter gives Blumenthal until 6 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 18 to confirm he has preserved the materials. “Failure to do so may result in sanctions, adverse-inference instructions or other penalties,” Reitz wrote.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, the Justice Department’s second-ranking official, backed Reitz on X. “The First Amendment expressly prohibits Congress from infringing the speech and association rights of Americans,” he wrote. “DOJ will defend against threats to those rights, period.”
A department spokesperson said the Justice Department “routinely requests that records be preserved when public officials take such extreme actions.”
Blumenthal is the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In October he sent letters to more than a dozen donors that a Washington Post report had identified as funding the ballroom, UPI said.
He asked them who solicited their gifts, whether specific amounts were suggested, whether they were promised anonymity, and what contacts they had with the White House or federal agencies.
A top Justice Department lawyer said the probe looked like an effort to intimidate Trump supporters, the Washington Examiner reported. Trump has said the project will be privately funded through about $400 million in donations.
Blumenthal fired back. “I will not be intimidated,” he said, vowing to “vigorously pursue investigations into this Administration’s persistent misuse of taxpayer dollars and any corporate entity that has enabled their boundless corruption.”
“The Trump Administration is so afraid of transparency and oversight that they are weaponizing the Department of Justice to baselessly target Congress in direct violation of the Constitution,” he added, NBC News reported.
Late Wednesday, the senator sent Reitz a preservation demand of his own, directing him to keep all records and communications with the White House or senior Justice officials about the decision to draft and post the letter.
The letter itself does not file charges or open a criminal case. NBC noted that an overt step against a sitting member of Congress would normally go through extensive review by the department’s Public Integrity Section, which has been shrunk in Trump’s second term.
The White House warned congressional Democrats the same day that some oversight efforts could cross the line into crimes, as Democrats prepare to take control of both chambers in January.
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