Democrats Gear Up to Investigate Trump Administration. It Won't Be Easy

As the administration's recent report on DOGE shows, even getting basic information out of the Trump administration will put the new Congress to the test.

In late September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency titled "DOGE: Congress and the public's lack of confidence that systems and data are protected across multiple agencies." In it, GAO disclosed that several executive branch agencies had refused to fully cooperate with investigators about the extent and nature of DOGE's access to sensitive systems and information. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which DOGE and the Trump administration gutted in the early months of the president's second term, sent a letter to the GAO accusing investigators of bias and claiming the report was "misleading."

The report, the latest example of the Trump administration seeking to evade congressional oversight, raises questions about the ways lawmakers can enforce accountability or even access basic information about what the government is doing — if at all.

"In a world where there's no shame, it's hard to think of what Congress could do that doesn't involve some form of coercion," said Emily Berman, a law professor at the University of Houston. "Like not paying money or going to court."

The GAO serves as the primary investigative body of Congress. Its work is often initiated by requests from Congress, but is independent and nonpartisan. However, it does not have the ability to enforce laws or prosecute. Federal agencies do not necessarily have to approve the agency's proposals, but they are legally required to cooperate with GAO's requests for information and audits.

However, the GAO and a Democratic congressional aide who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity say that the agencies inspected by the GAO for the DOGE report — the CFPB, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Education, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Trade and Exchange Commission (NOAA) (SBA) — all, in one way or another, refused to cooperate with the investigation.

"Over the past year and a half, we've had more challenges getting information from agencies," said GAO spokeswoman Sarah Kazmark. As this report shows, when agencies fail to provide requested information, it can limit GAO's ability to provide assurances to Congress and the public that federal programs, systems, and information are properly managed and protected.

For example, every agency included in the report declined to name the DOGE operatives who hosted them — even when that information had already been publicly reported. The CFPB declined to name all six DOGE agents detailed to the agency, even though WIRED identified three of them in February 2025: Nikhil Rajpal, Chris Young, and Gavin Kliger. DOGE members Jeremy Levine and Jordan Wick were also part of the team at the agency.

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According to the report, both SBA and VA "did not respond to requests for information needed to determine DOGE team members' access to their systems." A previous report from WIRED revealed that the DOGE branch at the VA, Sahil Lavingia, sought to use artificial intelligence to write code for the agency's systems, and at the SBA, Edward "Big Balls" Coristine and Donald Park gave DOGE affiliates broad access to the agency's financial and loan systems.

VA and SBA did not respond to requests for comment.

In addition to the VA and SBA's refusal to provide information, several agencies were slow to respond to the GAO, the Democratic aide says. It's not unheard of to encounter some resistance within an agency to a GAO investigation, the aide said, but the responses to the DOGE inquiry show a "surprising" level of obstruction.

"We saw a little distance in terms of cooperation," they say. "Typically, an agency might be reluctant to provide as much information as the GAO requests, but then they try to find places. If they can't provide X, they'll provide Y. If they can't provide Y, maybe they can clue the inspectors in on something, or show different things. But there's just a complete reluctance to get to yes."

And it's not just the agencies named in the DOGE report that have resisted congressional efforts to investigate Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, tells WIRED in a statement that his office has been informed by the GAO that the Commerce Department is refusing to cooperate with my request with Sen. Welch to review the effectiveness of U.S. export controls to address national security risks posed by artificial intelligence.

The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.

"There is no good reason to deny GAO inspectors access to root out corruption and waste in federal programs," says Wein.

While the current Republican-led Congress seems less interested in using them, there are tools to enforce cooperation with GAO investigations. The most obvious and likely is to use their subpoena power, which a Democratic aide says members of Congress are preparing to do. "We expect the administration to prepare for a hostile [next Congress]," they say.

If someone refuses to cooperate with a subpoena, Congress can impeach them in contempt. "It used to be a huge embarrassment if Congress threatened to hold an executive in contempt of Congress," Berman said. And that put a lot of pressure on the executive branch to reach an agreement with Congress." But in recent years, this has changed. Since 2012, three different attorneys general have been arrested for contempt of Congress, with seemingly few consequences.

Because without the cooperation of executive branch agencies like the Justice Department, Congress has little power to enforce subpoenas or detain people who don't comply.

Last month, Congress impeached billionaire Leon Black for refusing to respond to subpoenas to return and testify under oath about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Whether Black will face any consequences, however, is now out of Congress' hands — the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia will ultimately decide whether to prosecute him.

Without the support of executive branch agencies staffed by president-elects, Berman says, Congress has fewer options today than in the past. It can impose fines on those found in contempt. He can arrest them and put them in their little prison cell in the basement of the capitol. Or it could file a lawsuit that could potentially end up in the Supreme Court. But any legal case could easily extend beyond the two-year parliamentary term, Berman says, creating a "real problem" for using the courts to enforce accountability.

"This is part of the shift of power from Congress to the executive branch," he says. Over time, the way the law has moved is to give the executive branch more power and discretion over decisions within its branch. "So this has had the effect of essentially expanding the scope of what the executive branch can argue they are entitled to keep secret."

With its limited oversight powers, Congress must think of other ways to compel the executive branch to cooperate. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, who serves as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters in September that Congress has the "power of the purse" as a way to pressure the executive branch to comply with investigations.

But for this power to be effective, Congress must change the way it legislates. As it is, the budget is an "obvious tool" because Congress often passes legislation in large bills, Berman said. This means that critical funding for regular government operations, or initiatives that enjoy broad bipartisan support, is often combined with other allocations for government priorities. For example, after Alex Peretti was killed by two Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents during Operation Metro in Minnesota, Senate Democrats refused to pass an appropriations bill that would include funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees CBP. What happened after that was a partial shutdown of the government for several months. But DHS is also home to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which meant TSA workers went weeks without pay and led to massive delays at airports across the country.

Berman says that if Democrats take control of the Senate, they can pressure the administration by refusing to confirm appointments unless the executive branch cooperates.

But in reality, he says, "there are no good options."