Democratic strategists launch 'war room' to investigate Republican lawmakers who abuse their power

On Wednesday, POLITICO reported that Democratic strategists are launching a "war room" to investigate House Republicans in the event that they abuse their oversight powers in an incoming Republican majority.

"The newly relaunched Congressional Integrity Project initiative, details of which were shared first with POLITICO, will include rapid response teams, investigative researchers, pollsters and eventually a paid media campaign to put congressional Republicans 'squarely on the defense,' founder Kyle Herrig said in an interview," reported Heidi Przybyla and Jordain Carney. "It’s designed to serve as the party’s 'leading war room' to push back on House Republican investigations, Herrig said in an interview." Longtime Democratic strategist Brad Woodhouse will also be involved.

According to the report, Herrig vowed the campaign will "investigate the investigators, expose their political motivations and the monied special interests supporting their work, and hold them accountable for ignoring the urgent priorities of all Americans in order to smear Joe Biden and do the political bidding of Trump and MAGA Republicans."

This comes after top House Republicans, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), are vowing to launch a blizzard of investigations against both the Biden administration, including the Justice Department and FBI, as well as various figures who have become Republican scapegoats, like outgoing National Institutes of Health official Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Similar investigative blitzes occurred during the Obama administration when House Republicans held endless hearings into the issues like failures in the "Operation Fast & Furious" gun-walking operation and the since-debunked allegations that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting conservative groups. Perhaps most famously, the GOP ran a massive campaign trying to blame former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya — something that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) publicly boasted was designed to hurt her presidential campaign rather than to serve any legitimate investigative purpose.

"In addition to Herrig and Woodhouse, the project’s leadership team will include Leslie Dach, a well-known Democratic communications specialist who has led progressive organizations for decades, served in the Obama administration and advised the Biden administration’s pandemic response," said the report. "In a sign of the important role the initiative will play over the next two years — and its proximity to the White House — other senior advisers include Jeff Peck, a former Biden aide during the president’s time in the Senate who served as treasurer and vice chair of the Biden Foundation as well as a senior adviser to the Biden-Harris transition."