The Zhitong Finance App learned that over the past two years, congressional Democrats who are outraged by the US business community's cooperation with the Trump administration have only been able to express their dissatisfaction through harshly worded letters. However, after the midterm elections, some of the Democrats are likely to be summoned, and the companies they are targeting are stepping up their precautions accordingly.
Polls show that the Democrats clearly hope to regain control of at least one house in both houses of the National Assembly. Although changes in political trends usually prompt companies to recruit new people and adjust their strategies, some Democrats, who may serve as the chairman of the National Assembly Committee, are sending signals that they are preparing to launch a relentless intensive campaign to respond to voters' dissatisfaction with suspected corruption and the direction of economic development.
The business community, on the other hand, sees the upcoming head-on as a crisis and invests money in response to an emergency. The number of new lobbying registrations surged this fall. More and more companies are hiring representatives who are close to Democrats who may be responsible for investigating their dealings with the Trump administration and who have experience assisting companies and CEOs in dealing with congressional supervisory hearings. CEOs are preparing for an unsettling yet seemingly unavoidable situation: testifying publicly in front of apparently hostile questioners, explaining how they are complying with the demands of a powerful president and why they are acting the way they are.
People from all walks of life on K Street (synonymous with the Washington lobbying industry) said this round of intensive preparations was unprecedented. What is behind this reflects not only the fact that all parties have realized that US President Trump's second term had an unusual transactional orientation, but also reflects the anger of the Democrats against companies that they regard as collaborators of the Trump administration.
Smelling a “liquidation” signal? “Pro-Trump” US business dispute responds accordingly
Check out the companies that are donating to the White House Ballroom Project. For example, Apple (AAPL.US) hired lobbyist Jeff Miller, who is close to Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. Last month, the company also hired Arshi Siddiqui to join its lobbying team. Siddiqui was an assistant to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and will provide advice on “tax, trade, and technology-related issues.” Apple also hired Liz Allen, who was a senior US State Department official during President Joe Biden's administration and as chief of staff during Tim Walds' 2024 vice presidential campaign. Microsoft (MSFT.US), another company that donated money to the White House ballroom project, revealed in August that it had signed a contract with Rivendell Group to include two former Democratic Party assistants in its external delegation team.
Palantir (PLTR.US), which is also a donor to the White House Ballroom project, has also expanded its external lobbying team to hire lobbying firms that are also linked to both parties. Late this spring, the defense contractor, which has received numerous federal government contracts over the past two years, hired a team led by top lobbyist Steve Elmendorf. Elmendorf has long been a senior adviser to House Democrats and participated in John Kerry's presidential campaign. The team also included former Alaska Democratic Senator Mark Begic.
This week, it was reported that a spreadsheet recorded $333 million in donations from private donors to the White House ballroom project, including some businesses that had not previously disclosed their donations. Among them, SEFTSE (CRM.US) made two donations of $1 million each, and its CEO Mark Benioff was also among the donors. As SEFTZ's business with the US government continued to grow, Benioff also gradually established a close relationship with Trump. Records show that the software company has also stepped up its lobbying efforts. This summer, the company hired long-time Democratic lobbyist Mary Beth Stanton, and Checkmate Government Relations, a lobbying firm with close ties to Trump's core circle.
The anxiety isn't limited to companies donating to the White House Ballroom project. A Republican lobbyist said that companies that helped fund the “Great American Road Trip” initiated by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy this summer — many of which have business interests with the Department of Transportation — have expressed concerns that they may be summoned to Congress to explain their dealings with the Trump administration.
The source also said that he is also concerned about businesses that donate to Trump's Inaugural Fund, his Political Action Committee, and various events related to America's 250th anniversary — events that Trump has largely shaped as a celebration of himself and his administration.
Democratic strategists said lawmakers can expect to face intense pressure from supporters to investigate companies and CEOs that have financial ties to Trump and his administration. Lindsey Owens, head of Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic think tank, said that more and more voters from different parties believe that America's political and economic system has been manipulated in favor of interest groups with strong influence. Owens said, “Today, this is a judgment widely shared by the American public — this consensus is widespread, deep-rooted, and very clearly expressed.”
Over the past few weeks, Owens and his team have been meeting with congressional staff to share a list of information listing potential respondents. The list includes Tesla (TSLA.US) and SpaceX (SPCX.US), which are headed by Trump ally Elon Musk, as well as Palantir, OpenAI, Amazon (AMZN.US), and Apple. People are particularly concerned about companies in the tech industry that benefit from relaxed regulatory positions or tariff exemptions, particularly those that have donated large sums of money to Trump's inauguration committee or White House projects.
The Groundwork Collaborative's list also lists companies outside of the tech industry, including McDonald's (MCD.US), Walmart (WMT.US), and TurboTax's parent company Intuit (INTU.US). According to reports, after Trump personally intervened, the Department of Justice settled an antitrust lawsuit filed by Live Nation Entertainment (LYV.US). The company was also specially named for this.
Potential Democratic Party investigators are generally reluctant to talk about this publicly, but they are certainly preparing lawmakers to investigate any suspected act of transferring profits. For example, a prominent finance executive described a series of adjustments the company has made in the past few months, including rebalancing the distribution of political donations to gain the favor of the political parties expected to take power.
A corporate consultant said that customers are anxiously looking for ways to avoid being summoned to attend hearings and explain why they are cooperating with politically unpopular policies. A K Street attorney said that the relevant company is advising executives to prepare honest answers in advance to explain their dealings with Trump and his administration officials, while comprehensively sorting through internal emails to understand how insiders actually talked about how they responded to the president's demands at the time.
Major lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck warned in a reminder to clients this month that companies should now prepare for more aggressive congressional oversight, including possible hearings. At these hearings, CEOs may be questioned, and lawmakers may use this to gain “political points.”
The memorandum stated, “The actual consequences may be significant, including damage to reputation, impact on stock prices, attendance by corporate executives, large-scale filing obligations, facing parallel regulatory investigations, and legislative actions against the company's business practices.”
The tense atmosphere is getting worse
Since this year, concerns in the business community have continued to heat up, and this coincides with Democrats' growing optimism about the prospects for regaining control of the House of Representatives and possibly even the Senate at the same time.
Peter Olsager, CEO of investment bank Lazard and former budget director in the Obama administration, said in an earnings conference call in January of this year: “If control of the House of Representatives actually changes hands, what may happen is that Congress will hold a large number of hearings and issue a large number of subpoenas; there will also be a lot of tension between the legislature and the executive over issues such as executive privileges.”
Said Terry, a lobbyist for lobbying firm BGR Group and who worked for Illinois Representative Jane Shakowski, said, “It started with a question from a staff member, followed by a letter, then a request for documents.”
Terry said, “By the time the matter actually enters the hearing, the context of the whole story has basically been determined. This is our message to clients through BGR's Congressional Monitoring Task Force — it's time to start preparing now, not wait until the first letter is delivered to act.”
Veterans on Capitol Hill believe that the Democrats have plenty of opportunities to launch an investigation. Henry Wexman, a former California congressman, said, “There is a lot of material here that can be used to write an article.” Wexman is a liberal Democrat who actively promotes investigations. During the George W. Bush administration, he led many investigations and was the chairman of the House Committee on Supervision and Government Reform.
Wexman said that as polls show that public concerns about government corruption are deepening, Congress is responsible for launching an investigation. A Gallup poll in September found that 89% of American adults think government corruption is “widespread,” including the vast majority of supporters of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. “What happened during the Trump administration was an eye-opener for the public,” Wexman said.
Attorney Seth Bloom, who has represented many large companies and has been general counsel to the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee for a long time, said that companies that have benefited from the Trump administration's laid-back attitude on antitrust enforcement may also be the target of key scrutiny.
Democratic Representative Jamie Ruskin of Maryland is expected to take over the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees antitrust related matters. Ruskin recently spoke at a conference on this issue. Ruskin said, “Congressional Republicans are acting like a group of Mono followers and flatterers, blindly endorsing the president's misdealings rather than carrying out meaningful supervision.” He also said, “When suspicious transactions lead to rising prices, falling wages, and widening economic gaps, they don't say a word.”
The merger deal between Paramount Sky Dance (PSKY.US) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.US) may also be the subject of special scrutiny. Of particular interest is whether the Trump administration's approval of the deal is conditional on affected media networks — such as CBS News and CNN — promising to provide news stories beneficial to the government. Bloom said, “I expect there will be more surveillance actions in the future. What actually happened to these merger deals?”
Furthermore, Wexman said the Democrats would “definitely” want to investigate Musk's broad role in the Trump administration. According to Wexman, the tech company CEO is “a person who can easily be the target of supervisory investigations.”
But getting answers can be much harder than asking questions. Wexman believes that compared to when he was at the peak of his career in the 1990s and early 21st century, it will be more difficult to carry out effective congressional supervision today. He pointed out that the number of National Assembly staff has been reduced in recent years, resulting in fewer investigators that can be used by various commissions to carry out complex investigations. He also anticipated that Trump's White House would boycott related investigations.
“This is a hostile government,” Wexman said. The situation today is much worse than when I was Chairman of the Committee. I think the executive branch will directly cut off cooperation with the National Assembly and refuse to provide information to the National Assembly. But that only makes this task more important.”