WASHINGTON — The incoming Democratic majority in Congress is already plotting its first investigations. Top of the list are President Donald Trump and his family’s business dealings, along with corporate corruption, immigration enforcement abuses and the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Starting in 2025, Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump branched out beyond hotels and golf courses to drone manufacturing, critical minerals and rockets. At least seven firms publicly associated with Trump’s sons have received contracts, loans or possible investments from the federal government or favorable regulatory decisions while their father has been in office, according to public press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and public contracting records.

Many of these business dealings have drawn bipartisan criticism over concerns that the Trump sons are wrongly profiting off the presidency. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, urged his colleagues to launch an investigation into Trump’s family. He compared his concerns to accusations by the GOP about the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden. The New York Post’s editorial board said one of the Trump brothers’ business deals “stinks to high heaven.”

Democrats on both the House Oversight and Judiciary committees had already started to gather information on the Trump sons for potential investigations. When the party takes control of Congress in January, lawmakers will have subpoena power and the ability to compel witnesses to testify.

In a letter announcing his candidacy to lead House Oversight, Rep. Robert Garcia of California said he “will use every tool available to investigate the Trump Crime Family.”

“The Trump Administration and the powerful interests that have exploited our government should know that a new era of truth and justice is coming,” Garcia wrote.

In an interview with CNN, Garcia said that meant Trump’s sons.

“They should be expected to answer questions,” he said when pressed whether he’d seek to call them in for a hearing.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is expected to lead the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, outlined Trump family business dealings as a priority, and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee told The Associated Press he wants to look into a mining deal connected to the Trump family.

Trump and his sons say they have done nothing wrong.

The White House has been quietly preparing for Congress to begin launching investigations into the administration. Staff members have been hiring personal lawyers for a possible onslaught of subpoenas, according to an administration official and a person familiar with their effort.

Trump has batted away criticism around his sons, though he said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that he struggles to restrain their business dealings.

“It’s hard to say to them, ‘Don’t do anything anymore for four years because I’m president,” he said.

The president was asked in the interview whether he thought foreign investors might seek to buy influence through the company he co-owns with his sons.

“I don’t know,” Trump replied. “Look, every president has a problem. You have people, and they work for you, and guys like you cover them and you do profiles on them, and they become like — everybody thinks that Trump loves them and everything else, which in some cases is true, and some cases are not. This is true for every president.”

A spokesperson for Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. rejected criticism of any potential conflicts of interest.

“Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are passive, minority investors with absolutely no involvement in the day-to-day operations, strategic decisions, management, or any activities of these companies. They have no role whatsoever in the awarding, oversight, or management of any government contracts and remain proud to invest in American companies and American technology,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Trump, in the weeks before the midterm elections, did address accusations of corruption, but not related to himself or his sons. He asked Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign after she sought $100,000 from a Trump donor, though she denied any criminal activity.

“I didn’t like what I read,” he said. He complained about reports that his former lawyer and former acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba had allegedly been paid $50 million for helping with a presidential pardon, saying, “I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous, and it’s not acceptable. Not acceptable … at all.” She has said she was never paid for a pardon.

After the news that the Justice Department was reviewing a Department of Homeland Security investigation into whether aide Corey Lewandowski sought to profit off his role at DHS, the president delivered a warning: “I want my people to be honest, and if they’re not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted,” he said. “If people are not honest, they’re stealing from me as president.” Lewandowski has denied the allegations.

The president’s anger came too late for voters. The issue of government corruption was a significant factor in the election, with 90% of midterms voters in the NBC News Exit Poll saying it was a crucial or major factor in their votes for Congress.

Here’s a look at three areas where companies that have been publicly linked to the Trump sons have been the subject of questions from Democratic lawmakers.

Rare earth minerals and mine deals

Vulcan Elements, of Durham, North Carolina, manufactures rare earth magnets and publicly posted last summer that 1789 Capital, an investment firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a senior partner, was among the firms that invested a total of $65 million. It’s unclear how much money 1789 contributed.

Less than six months later, in November 2025, Vulcan Elements announced a $620 million loan from the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital and $50 million in federal incentives from the Commerce Department’s CHIPS Program Office.

A Vulcan Elements spokesperson told NBC News the company “did not ask or solicit its investors to facilitate the Pentagon loan announced in November 2025,” and added: “1789 Capital is one of many investors represented in Vulcan’s broad investor base, which includes approximately 70 investing entities. No one from 1789 Capital is on Vulcan’s Board, and the firm does not have any governance rights.”

The company also said it received its first three Pentagon contracts in 2024, when Biden was in office.

Vulcan Elements has already been part of an inquiry into 1789 Capital by Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

A spokesperson for 1789 Capital said Donald Trump Jr. is not on the investment committee that determines what companies get 1789 investments. The person added that 1789 only takes minority stakes in companies.

“Legitimate congressional oversight serves an important public purpose, but what we have seen so far is politically motivated attacks untethered from the facts. Despite repeated efforts to cast 1789 Capital and the American companies in which it invests in a negative light, the allegations have failed against the factual record. 1789 Capital has no intention of being drawn into political gamesmanship, particularly when it’s American companies, American workers, and American industries as targets,” the spokesperson said.

Another target of Democrats has been a tungsten mine deal in Kazakhstan linked to the Trump brothers.

Trump’s sons serve on the board of advisers of a company called Dominari Holdings that lists its headquarters in Trump Tower in Manhattan.

A subsidiary of Dominari lists a company called Skyline Builders LLC as one of its “legacy holdings.” Skyline announced a merger in May with Cove Kaz Capital Group LLC and became Kaz Resources, which is developing a tungsten mine.

According to an SEC filing, Kaz Resources received letters in August 2025 signifying potential financial backing from two government agencies for $1.6 billion.

The mining deal was sharply questioned last summer by Senate Democrats, who wrote to Trump Cabinet officials asking about possible conflicts of interest because the company was linked to Trump’s sons and may receive potential financial backing from the federal government.