The private sector and their army of lobbyists are preparing for Democrats to seize some control away from President Donald Trump next year.
Major industries, such as technology and pharmaceuticals, have spent the last year focused on winning favor with Trump while others have kept their heads down to avoid being targeted by the administration. Seven months ahead of the midterms, some of those same companies are recalibrating in expectation of Democrats seizing at least one chamber of Congress and the investigative and subpoena power that comes with it.
Democrats plan to launch into aggressive oversight mode, investigating a slew of Trump’s actions and how the corporate world treated him – from donations to his ballroom project and his inauguration to drug pricing dealmaking.
“I think the trifecta of ‘we need to go to the White House, we need to go to Mar-a-Lago, we need to write a check for the ballroom’ is going to look a lot different,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum think tank.
A handshake from Trump will “absolutely” mean less when Democrats take over investigations, he added.
Major companies and lobbying firms are making new hires to bolster their reputation with Democrats to prepare for a potential power shift. Palantir, the technology company co-founded by Trump ally Peter Thiel that has gotten contracts during the second term, retained Democratic lobbyists Cristina Antelo and Debra Dixon of Ferox Strategies. Top law and lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld hired Marcus Childress, a Democratic congressional investigations veteran, to co-lead the firm’s congressional investigations practice.
Capitol Hill staffers have “sent warnings downtown, saying when the Democrats are back in power – not if but when – they are going to do aggressive, aggressive oversight over everything Trump has been doing,” said a Democratic lobbyist, who, like some others in this report, was granted anonymity to describe the private conversations.
While Capitol Hill expects Trump and his administration to ignore subpoenas issued to them, “corporations that have been supporting Trump in countless ways here are not going to be afforded that same opportunity to take a pass,” the person said. “So they're going to have to answer for, what was promised when you gave money to the ballroom? Or Freedom 250?”
Freedom 250, a White House initiative to mark America’s 250th anniversary, is one of the many Trump-led projects taking donations from the private sector.
One high-profile target is expected to be one of the Trump administration’s most touted policy wins: most favored nation, a policy designed to force drugmakers to lower prices to those offered in other developed nations.
A second Democratic lobbyist said the agreements associated with it would be blown “wide open.”
“Democrats are going to see what’s behind the curtain very quickly,” the person said. “It’s a short window, things will change. … Being this cozy puts a bullseye on your back very quickly.”
Major companies spent the months after Trump was re-elected and his return to the White House making sure they got in front of the president. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son,Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook were among those who dined at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida; Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates are some of the many who attended dinners at the White House; and Amazon, Coinbase, Ripple and Tether wereamong those who donated to Trump’s ballroom project.
“We can investigate larger corporations” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who is poised to take the gavel of the powerful House Oversight Committee in a Democratic majority, told POLITICO last month of his oversight priorities. That could include “organizations that are also harming consumers — large companies using data to manipulate pricing, foreign interests that are driving up the cost of housing, contracts through the Department of Defense that are going to friends and family of members of the administration.”
Companies’ interest in the White House won’t go away, of course, but Democratic control of Congress would require them to balance multiple competing pressures.
“No one's trying to pick fights,” said a third Democrat on K Street. “But I do think they're standing up for themselves in a way that they probably weren't in March of 2025.”
The private sector will be under a microscope during potential Democratic investigations, top government relations firm Holland & Knightoutlined in a memo published on Tuesday. The memo notes the expectation that investigations will have “core themes” such as financial contributions to Trump and use of government information for activities by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“Democratic leaders have been scrutinizing private corporations for appearing to pay-to-play,” said Childress, who spent the past year as a special counsel and investigator for Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Raskin is poised to chair the committee if Democrats flip the House. Before that, Childress served as an investigative counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
“If my former boss or Democratic members have determined, or they've heard or they feel that certain companies or industries have been encouraged to pay money to fundraisers or to certain committees aligned with President Trump,” Childress said, “we expect leaders will likely want to know what these companies have been promised or have … received in return, right?”
Additionally, Democrats are expected to probe activities related to the Trump family and family members of Cabinet secretaries, especially items related to cryptocurrency. Pardons the president has issued — which included controversial ones like Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — could be investigated.
“There’s no scenario where this shouldn’t be at the center of our [work] moving forward,” Garcia said.
Most major corporations with business before the government are well aware of the need to engage with both parties in Washington no matter who’s in power. But the focus on nurturing relationships among the new slate of Democratic leaders and likely committee chairs dates back to the beginning of this year.
Companies and K Street firms are looking to hire lobbyists or consultants who can help them make inroads, donating to Democrats’ campaigns or affiliated PACs or getting more involved with organizations like the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute or Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, according to a fourth Democratic lobbyist with ties to leadership.
Palantir’s recent hire of Ferox Strategies hits several of those notes. Antelo, the firm’s CEO, is the former acting head of the CHCI, while Dixon is a former chief of staff to former Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), who served in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Garcia is also a member of the CHC, which would be a key constituency for Palantir, given ICE’s use of the company’s data analytics to support federal immigration enforcement, including by helping the agency manage and prioritize cases for deportation.
“The story in Washington isn’t quite accurate,” Antelo said of Palantir. The company has pushed back on criticism by highlighting the fact that its software has been used for less-controversial work across various federal agencies from USDA to HHS, and that its history of contracting with the federal government stretches as far back as the Obama administration.
“Democrats don’t like the [deportation] raids, they don’t like ICE, they don’t like Trump, and they’re trying to take it out on the tool that ICE is using, as opposed to the policy,” she said.
There are exercises underway to prepare clients, a GOP lobbyist said.
Clients are being encouraged to “imagine that you've partnered administration on any of these five things — a contract, a grant, a press thing, a factory tour, a trade deal – what would the Democrats’ line of attack be if they had the gavels?” the person said.
Those who made contributions to things like the ballroom or Freedom 250 “better have a very good story to tell in terms of, hopefully there's a track record of you supporting” a wide range of other philanthropic initiatives in Washington, noted the third Democratic lobbyist.
Firms are bracing their clients for a potential Democratic takeover even if the client hasn’t made headlines for its dealings with the White House.
“If you're engaging with the Trump administration … it's not that you're at risk because you did something wrong, but you just might have documents and information that it's easier to get from you versus the Trump administration,” said Abby Kohlman, a former federal prosecutor who co-leads the congressional investigations practice at Akin.
Companies have already gotten outreach from the Hill, she added.
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