Rep. Robert Garcia is poised to take the helm of the powerful House Oversight Committee, and the California Democrat says a warning from President Donald Trump’s White House will not derail congressional investigations. Garcia rejected the administration’s message as an attempt to intimidate lawmakers before they exercise their oversight authority.

The confrontation began Monday, when White House Counsel Will Scharf sent Garcia a letter spanning three pages. Scharf warned that investigations into the Trump administration “may cross the line into blatant criminality.”

Scharf accused Garcia and his colleagues of signaling that they planned to use their new majority to harass Trump administration officials. He argued that their investigations would not “further a legitimate legislative task.”

The White House counsel also said the administration would take action against oversight it considers unlawful. Garcia delivered a blunt response Wednesday during an interview with MS NOW’s Alicia Menendez, calling the attempt to prevent “any sort of oversight” outrageous.

Garcia said Trump was trying to “stop us members of Congress from doing our job that is in the Constitution.” He described the letter as a threat not only to him, but to Congress and its investigative responsibilities.

“It’s shocking that the White House would send a letter that is clearly a threat to the Congress, a threat to me, when all we’re focused on is investigation and rooting out corruption,” Garcia said.

Garcia said the committee’s work would focus on “taking on government corruption, making life more affordable through bringing down costs by actually going after the crooks and the criminals that are causing harm.” He presented those efforts as legitimate congressional business, not harassment.

The California Democrat also argued that investigations can help lawmakers prevent corruption under future administrations. “We investigate so that we can actually write good laws to stop corruption,” he said.

“We want to ensure that we are writing new laws so that the president’s family in the future does not somehow take advantage of the system, isn’t profiting off the presidency,” Garcia continued. His response directly challenged the White House claim that the planned inquiries lack a legislative purpose.

Garcia made clear that the letter had not changed those plans. “Maybe Donald Trump or his lawyers don’t understand that, but that’s the work that we’re engaged in every single day,” he continued.

“And no letter or threat from the president is going to stop that work,” Garcia said. He also said Democrats would not be “intimidated by the president” as they prepare to use their majority.

Garcia said the administration appeared to believe “in an authoritarian state” where “we all should bend the knee to Donald Trump.” His answer was unequivocal: Democrats on the committee would continue investigating despite the warning from the White House counsel.

He pointed to Democrats’ sweeping midterm victories as evidence that voters want the party to confront the administration. Garcia said those results should give Democrats the “courage to take on these big fights.”

Garcia specifically raised concerns about presidential family profits while Americans face financial pressure. “When you have a family that is profiting off the presidency, that are billions of dollars richer, while the American public is struggling, that is a real issue that people care about,” he said, “and they want us to take on.”

The dispute sets up an immediate clash between the incoming Democratic majority and the Trump White House over the scope of congressional investigations. Garcia’s position is that the committee’s work has a legislative purpose, and that neither a presidential warning nor accusations of criminality will stop it.