After midterm win, US Democrats plan probes of tech billionaire and White House official

When Democrats take control of the US Congress in January, tech billionaire Elon Musk, President Donald Trump's newly appointed White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and several large corporations will be targets of congressional investigations, senior lawmakers said on Sunday.

California Representative Robert Garcia and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren promised aggressive oversight in television interviews. Musk's role in last year's dismissal of federal employees by the Department of Government Efficiency, and Miller's role in Trump's harsh immigration crackdown, will be at the centre of the investigations, Garcia said. The shooting deaths of two people by federal officers in Minnesota during the immigration crackdown had caused great outrage.

Warren warned corporations to prepare for tough investigations if they had profited by cheating American families and defrauding investors; she did not name specific companies.

Hakeem Jeffries, who takes office as House Speaker in January, said Democrats would support moves to remove Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Pointing out that gas prices rose because of the unpopular Iran war Trump launched in February, he said, "Pete Hegseth must go."

Meanwhile, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche warned that threats by some Democrats to target administration officials and allies are "not something we can tolerate in this country" and that the Trump administration is ready to respond. Notably, only 37 percent supported Trump's immigration policy in a national poll held in October; when he took office it was 50 percent.