Aaron Reitz letter to Richard Blumenthal demanded that the senator preserve documents tied to his inquiry into White House ballroom donors and warned of significant legal consequences. Blumenthal said he would not be intimidated and would keep pursuing the investigation.
Reitz said the inquiry had become harassment of citizens who were associated with the President and other public officials. He posted a copy of the letter on X and wrote, "I’m taking the first step to stop this abuse of power."
Richard Blumenthal and the inquiry
Blumenthal is the top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Last month, he sent letters to people whom a Washington Post report identified as having donated private funds to the ballroom’s construction.
A news release said Blumenthal was leading an inquiry into waste, fraud, and abuse associated with the White House ballroom and other projects throughout the nation’s capital. Donald Trump vowed to release the names of the private donors, but has made only a partial list public.
Justice Department response
Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general, said, "The First Amendment expressly prohibits Congress from infringing the speech and association rights of Americans." He added, "DOJ will defend against threats to those rights, period," in a response on X to Reitz’s post.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the department routinely requests that records be preserved when public officials take such extreme actions. The spokesperson also said Blumenthal’s letters were an attempt to suppress First Amendment activities, including philanthropic practices.
What Reitz cited
Reitz cited the federal conspiracy against rights statute and the federal deprivation of rights under color of law statute. The letter raised the stakes around how a congressional inquiry can reach private donors when the subject is a project tied to White House grounds and a reported cost of roughly $400 million.
Such an overt investigative measure against a sitting member of Congress would typically have undergone an extensive review process within the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Office, but that office has been shrunk and sidelined in the second Trump term. What specific documents Reitz expects Blumenthal to preserve is not identified.
Blumenthal’s response puts the next step on him and his staff: preserve the material or risk testing how far the Justice Department will carry the threat. His refusal, paired with the department’s defense of Reitz, leaves the fight over oversight and donor records squarely in place.
