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    "headline": "White House tells incoming Democrats their planned investigations may be crimes",
    "dek": "The warning came in a letter to the next House Oversight chairman. He called it an unconstitutional attack. The attorney general says Congress has oversight authority.",
    "prose": "White House counsel Will Scharf sent a letter warning House Democrats that their threats to investigate may be criminal.[^1] The White House claimed such probes may amount to blatant criminality.[^2] It called the planned congressional probes an abuse of power.[^3]\n\n## Who received it\n\nThe letter went to Rep. Robert Garcia.[^4] Garcia is a Democrat from California.[^5] He is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.[^6] He will chair it from 3 January.[^7]\n\nDemocrats won majority control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections on 3 November.[^8] They plan oversight probes into the administration's activities.[^9]\n\n## The reply\n\nGarcia called the letter an unconstitutional attack on Congress.[^10] He said Congress has the constitutional authority to conduct oversight investigations.[^11]\n\nHakeem Jeffries called the letter outrageous and inaccurate.[^12]\n\n## A different line from the attorney general\n\nThe administration's own chief law officer did not go as far as the letter. Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that Congress has oversight authority.[^13]\n\n## Both sides were ready\n\nThe White House hired staff for the counsel's office to prepare for investigations before Election Day.[^14] The new Congress, and Garcia's chairmanship, begins on 3 January.",
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