Designed for busy in-house counsel, government affairs professionals, policy advocates, and legal practitioners seeking to navigate the ins and outs of congressional oversight, this inaugural edition of MoFo’s “Congressional Investigations Quarterly” summarizes some of the most important issues and trends shaping congressional investigations on Capitol Hill. In this edition, we focus on the topics currently dominating congressional investigations, the post-August recess legislative landscape, and how the looming midterms might impact the investigative strategy of Democrats and Republicans alike, among other topics.
Hot Topics: DEI, Higher Education, Online Censorship, and China
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Since day one, the Trump administration has prioritized investigating DEI programs in both the public and private sectors, and congressional oversight has followed suit. Shortly after President Trump took office, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, initiated an investigation into federal funding awarded by the National Science Foundation for DEI-related initiatives. More recently, on June 25, 2025, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing entitled “Sacrificing Excellence for Ideology: The Real Cost of DEI.” Members have further mirrored this policy agenda in their legislative efforts, introducing bills to eliminate DEI practices in the federal government and other entities, such as institutions of higher education.
- Higher education. Congress and the Trump administration remain focused on colleges and universities, particularly with regard to DEI initiatives, tuition pricing, hiring practices, and antisemitism on campus. On April 8, 2025, the House Judiciary Committee sent letters to various universities requesting information on alleged collusion on tuition pricing. The Committee has since followed up with multiple institutions by issuing subpoenas for related documents and communications. Leadership of the House Committee on Education and Workforce also sent letters on March 27, 2025, to five universities demanding answers regarding their efforts to address antisemitism. As students return to campus this fall, this oversight activity may intensify.
- Online censorship. The House Judiciary Committee is continuing its years-long investigation regarding censorship of conservative voices online. As part of the Committee’s investigation into the impact of foreign laws on free speech in the United States, on February 26, 2025, the Committee sent subpoenas to eight tech companies seeking communications with foreign governments regarding compliance with foreign censorship laws, regulations, and judicial orders. On July 25, 2025, the Committee issued its latest censorship report, titled “The Foreign Censorship Threat: How the European Union’s Digital Services Act Compels Global Censorship and Infringes on American Free Speech.”
- China. China remains an area of bipartisan interest with members on both sides of the aisle focused on issues such as export controls, tariffs, bulk data transfers, and semiconductor and chip manufacturing. For example, on July 25, 2025, Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Chairman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Rep. Keith Self (R-TX) sent a letter to several major U.S. technology companies probing whether the subsea cable systems that each company maintains contain components produced, maintained, or repaired by entities affiliated with China. Earlier this month, senators on both sides of the aisle sent letters raising concerns about U.S. chip manufacturers selling chips in China and links to the Chinese government.
On the Rise: Parallel Executive Branch and State Attorneys General Investigations
- Fundraising platforms. On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum “to crack down on illegal ‘straw donor’ and foreign contributions in American elections, following reports and congressional investigations regarding potentially unlawful activities through ActBlue and other online fundraising platforms” and directing the Attorney General to investigate and take action as appropriate. On June 22, 2025, multiple House committees—including the Judiciary Committee, Oversight Committee, and Committee on House Administration—sent a series of letters and subpoenas that also target ActBlue for its fundraising activities.
- President Biden’s cognitive capabilities. On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum “directing an investigation into who ran the United States while President Biden was in office.” The memorandum asserts that President Biden’s “repeated use of an autopen raises serious concerns about the legitimacy of his actions” and seeks to determine who, in fact, signed presidential documents during Biden’s tenure. That same day, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) issued letters to former Biden administration officials seeking to compel their testimony regarding “President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.” Both actions followed a May 22, 2025, announcement by Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chair Ron Johnson (R-WI) stating that he sent letters to 28 former Biden cabinet members on the same topic.
- Climate action. On August 1, 2025, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas ruled that a group of Republican state attorneys general may proceed with a lawsuit that accuses three of the world’s largest investment companies of violating both state and federal antitrust laws based in part on their participation in climate initiatives. This lawsuit builds on inquiries initiated in 2022 by Republican state attorneys general, as well as a 2023-2024 House Judiciary investigation into the same three investment companies (as well as several other investment industry actors) regarding “the sufficiency of existing antitrust laws to address collusive agreements to promote and adopt progressive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.” The Committee released its report on December 13, 2024.
Shadow of the Future: Democratic Members Target Entities that Cut Deals with the Trump Administration
- Big Law. On April 24, 2025, minority members on the House Judiciary Committee sent letters to nearly a dozen major law firms following reports that the firms had made deals with the Trump administration in response to or in anticipation of being targeted by Executive Orders challenging the legal practices and hiring decisions at various large U.S. law firms. The Democratic congressmembers sought information on the “enforceability of these agreements, how each agreement was formed, what promises were made, and how the agreements will be implemented.”
- Paramount-Skydance. On May 19, 2025, several Democratic members of the House and Senate sent letters to the chair of Paramount Global (“Paramount”) about the company’s apparent attempt to settle the lawsuit filed by President Trump against CBS, a Paramount subsidiary. The members expressed concern that Paramount was contemplating the settlement only because of the company’s announced plan to merge with Skydance Media—a merger that required the review and approval of the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC). On July 2, 2025, Paramount announced that it would pay $16 million to settle the CBS lawsuit with President Trump, and on August 7, 2025, the merger was completed. In response, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to the FCC Chair on August 18, 2025, and ranking members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Judiciary Committee initiated an investigation into the Paramount-Skydance merger on August 21, 2025.
Big Picture Developments: Budget Negotiations and Midterms
- Reconciliation 2.0. With government funding set to expire on September 30, 2025, lawmakers must quickly strike a deal to keep the government open. Some lawmakers have conceded that a temporary funding measure, known as a Continuing Resolution, may be necessary to keep the government funded. If the White House sends an additional rescissions package to Congress, efforts to negotiate a funding deal may face additional barriers. With these spending fights occupying most of Congress’s time and attention in September, members may have less bandwidth for oversight activities in the early fall .
- Midterms around the corner. As the midterm elections near, members may shift their attention to efforts that shore up their political and policy platforms. The focus on the next election cycle may have a ripple effect on the nature and tenor of congressional investigations, with members leveraging their investigatory powers to target wedge issues that could generate attention and shape their core messages for the midterms.
