Outside groups urge Dems to target corporate interests over Trump

As Democrats prepare to take back the gavels in key investigative committees in the next Congress, outside groups are urging them to use their oversight resources to focus more on the cost of living and corporate actors than on President Donald Trump.

Such an approach could resonate more deeply with voters, according to several groups and individuals who have been drafting oversight plans and advising members of Congress. Democrats are expected to launch myriad investigations into companies that have done business with the Trump administration in the technology, cryptocurrency and prediction market industries when they assume power in January.

“We were pretty worried that we were going to repeat the same mistake of 2019, where Democrats came with a big new majority … and they spent a year-plus on impeachment,” Alex Jacquez, a senior vice president of policy, advocacy and research at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive think tank, told CNBC on Thursday.

“The issue never really resonated for people. Donald Trump was more popular the day that impeachment ended in the Senate than he was when it started in the House,” he said.

Several Democratic-aligned groups and strategists expressed similar sentiments to CNBC. They’re urging Democrats — who won sizable majorities in both chambers and have an axe to grind against the Trump administration — to show restraint. They should avoid the mistake of spending too much time trying to remove the president from office and stay focused on affordability, Jacquez and others said.

“Voters don’t want us to investigate just for the sake of political vendettas. It’s not healthy for us as a democracy. It plays into a lot of what Trump has done himself,” said Lucas Holtz, a senior political advisor at Third Way, a center-left think tank, which he said has been in close contact with Democratic leaders on oversight and other aspects of their congressional agenda. “Democrats hopefully have learned lessons from Trump and will responsibly investigate in a way that connects back to cost of living.”

That strategy is supported by recent polling conducted by Groundwork and polling firm Hart Research that was shared exclusively with CNBC.

It found that 2 in 3 voters think investigations of corporate greed should be a high priority, more than the 58% who believe Congress should prioritize Trump’s personal corruption.

And in focus groups conducted by the think tank, Jacquez said there was palpable anger aimed at CEOs and corporate leaders who voters feel have ripped them off. 

“A lot of people were pessimistic … that oversight would result in anything, and so they want restitution. They want CEOs to go to jail. They want people to resign. They want prices to be lowered,” Jacquez said. 

“In the focus groups in particular, I was pretty shocked at how much jail time came up for CEOs,” he added.

A mandate to investigate

Whether Democrats heed that advice remains to be seen.

House and Senate leaders are rolling out the foundations…