House Democrats on Two Committees Send Preservation Letters to More Than 60 Agencies, Companies and Individuals
The top Democrats on two U.S. House committees this week sent preservation letters to more than 60 federal agencies, companies, organizations and individuals, ordering them to preserve documents, communications and other records tied to the Trump administration so that investigations can continue when the 120th Congress convenes in January 2027. Jared Huffman, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, sent 36 letters on November 9 to nine federal agencies and 27 companies and organizations; Zoe Lofgren, ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, sent her committee's preservation letters on the morning of November 12.
In a November 9 press release, Huffman said the letters seek to safeguard evidence gathered or sought during his committee's investigations in the 119th Congress so those inquiries can continue in the new Congress. Federal agencies are directed to preserve records covered by the Federal Records Act, along with documents, communications and other materials relevant to congressional oversight; private companies that have been subjects of committee inquiries also received preservation requests, and the letters ask each recipient to certify in writing by November 23 that it is preserving the records. In the letters, Huffman wrote that for the past two years the Trump administration has "repeatedly failed to provide Congress with information necessary to conduct its oversight responsibilities and obstructed numerous congressional investigations." In his statement, Huffman said the days of obstruction are over and told every agency official and corporate executive receiving the letters: "Save everything."
Federal agency recipients included the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. The 27 private-sector and nonprofit recipients included Boeing, Chevron, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, John Deere, Lithium Americas, Lockheed Martin, Mastercard, Oracle, Palantir, SoftBank, TikTok, the Trust for the National Mall, United Airlines and UnitedHealth Group.
Huffman's office said the letters come amid reports that the Department of the Interior and other federal agencies may already be shredding official documents and using disappearing chat messages, raising concerns that evidence could be lost before investigators can obtain it. An Interior Department spokesperson has told CNN that whistleblower accounts of record destruction were "100% false" and that the department follows all federal records management obligations. According to The New York Times, Lithium Americas and SoftBank declined to comment on the letters, and the Trust for the National Mall did not respond to a request for comment.
Lofgren sent the Science Committee's preservation letters on the morning of November 12. According to the letters, which were reviewed by The New York Times, the committee's lines of inquiry include the administration's attempt to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other climate and weather research institutions, a White House deal with the rare earths company USA Rare Earth, and a Department of Energy report that Democrats say was designed to undermine the credibility of climate science ahead of a rollback of landmark carbon emissions rules. "This administration has engaged in an assault on the science enterprise in this country," Lofgren said in a statement. "There have been firings, coercing people to resign, impounding money and possible corruption." The targets of Lofgren's letters did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Democrats won the House majority in last week's midterm elections, and the 120th Congress convenes in January 2027, when Huffman and Lofgren are expected to chair the Natural Resources and Science committees and House Democrats will hold subpoena power. The letters offer an early map of the investigations Democrats intend to pursue in the new Congress. (Source: U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources; U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology)
Related: White House Warns Democrats in Letter: Probing the Trump Administration Could Amount to Criminality
Source: U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国会大厦。公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The U.S. Capitol in Washington. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
