As the incoming Democratic House majority prepares to conduct oversight, the Trump White House is not quietly getting ready for congressional scrutiny. It is instead confronting the lawmaker expected to lead the House Oversight Committee before those investigations have even begun.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California has made his plans for the upcoming Congress unmistakable. Expected to become committee chair, he spent much of last week urging senior administration officials, including new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, to “lawyer up.”

Under ordinary circumstances, the White House counsel’s office would be preparing for congressional scrutiny that Trump and his team have largely avoided over the past two years. White House counsel Will Scharf has chosen a considerably more aggressive response.

Scharf sent Garcia a letter dated Monday that became public two days later. The White House’s top lawyer pushed back against oversight efforts that have not started and appeared to raise the possibility of investigating the investigators.

“We are monitoring the abusive and capricious threats that are now proliferating from Democrat legislators who seek to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government,” Scharf wrote.

He then escalated his warning considerably. Scharf wrote that certain threats or uses of congressional process “may cross the line into blatant criminality.”

The letter continued, “issuing unlawful subpoenas with the intention of depriving citizens of their constitutional rights and privileges may warrant further investigation.”

The message from the White House was remarkable. As Democrats prepare to exercise congressional oversight authority, the administration is raising the prospect that lawmakers conducting those investigations could themselves face scrutiny.

Garcia responded by pointing directly to Congress’ constitutional authority. “It appears Donald Trump has something to hide. Let’s be clear: Congress’ authority comes from Article I of the Constitution, not from the permission of the White House.”

“Congress has wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight, an authority inherent in the power to legislate,” Garcia added.

Garcia also accused the administration of using the government to threaten Congress. “The American people voted overwhelmingly for us to pass laws to root out corruption and abuse. The Trump Administration continues to weaponize the government with threats of unconstitutional attacks on Congress.”

“We are a co-equal branch of government and will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized DOJ or from the president’s lawyers,” Garcia concluded.

The White House counsel’s letter followed Trump’s own furious reaction to oversight that remains on the horizon. On Saturday, he published social media posts accusing Democrats of “extortion,” “weaponization” and “lawfare.”

Trump also called for Democratic lawmakers’ “imprisonment” and ordered the Justice Department to “look into” what he described as Democrats’ “criminal” and “totally illegal” actions. The investigations provoking that fury have not yet started.

Attorney General Todd Blanche subsequently suggested that congressional leaders who conduct oversight investigations could face criminal prosecution. He also said the Justice Department would represent administration officials who came under scrutiny, an arrangement the original report described as contrary to how the process is supposed to work.

Now the White House counsel’s office has joined that campaign of pushback. The response has moved beyond political complaints and into warnings that congressional investigators or their actions could become targets of investigation.

Trump and his team could simply say that Democrats are free to investigate and will find no wrongdoing. They have not offered that confident response.

Instead, Trump, Blanche and Scharf have reacted to prospective oversight with accusations, warnings and talk of prosecution. For an administration supposedly untroubled by scrutiny, Team Trump is putting on a remarkably loud display of alarm before Garcia has even taken the committee gavel.