Democrats are preparing to investigate some defence technology firms, as well as manufacturing and mining companies that serve the military supply chain, according to conversations with nearly a dozen congressional staffers, political lobbyists, lawyers, investors and executives, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about pending plans.

The firms make a tantalising target for Democrats because of their close ties to the Trump administration and mounting public anger over unregulated AI, autonomous weapons and data centres, the people said.

“Every committee is going to want a piece of this,” said Brandon Rios, co-lead of the congressional investigations group at the law firm DLA Piper. “Companies in this ecosystem are going to face multiple fronts of investigations.”

Lawmakers have learned lessons from when they controlled the House in the first Trump administration and ran out the clock following “polite” protocol, said Jamie Bair, who leads the congressional investigations practice at the law firm Crowell & Moring.

If Democrats take control, he said, they will probably not “burn anywhere near as much time on the ramp-up”.

“It’s going to get pretty intense pretty quickly,” Bair added.

Firms such as Palantir, OpenAI and Meta have been targets of Democratic ire over the past two years, but with Republicans in power, official inquiries into their operations have yielded little impact, given that congressional subpoenas and hearings require majority approval.

Senior leaders at some prominent defence tech companies, including Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey and Palantir’s Shyam Sankar, have also used their public profiles to support the president’s agenda and have donated to his campaign or controversial ballroom project.

With electoral headwinds tipping toward Democrats, lawmakers are making it abundantly clear they will be on the attack if they win control of Congress. Representative Jim Himes, the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told a defence lobbying group in a letter last month that it may ask firms to turn over documents related to donations they’ve made to Trump’s ballroom for potential probes.

“These matters … are topics upon which we are likely to take future investigative steps,” Himes wrote.

Congressional lawmakers are developing priorities for whom they want to investigate. Firms with ties to Donald Trump Jr that have received Pentagon funds will be prioritised for probes, according to four people familiar with congressional lawmakers’ plans.

Companies with ties to Elon Musk and his US DOGE Service may also be high on the list for scrutiny, with emphasis on whether the firms financially benefited from information and relationships they had access to while running DOGE, two of the people added.

Companies that received non-compete contracts and equity stakes from the US military may also be prioritised, those two people said.

Rios said these hearings may “hit the sweet spot” for Capitol Hill staff and lawmakers, because they will touch on policy issues such as accountability that may resonate in future elections.

“They’re looking to make the case for 2028,” Rios said.

‘Pretty intense’

Since Democrats have been in the minority, their efforts to unearth potential corruption in the Trump administration have been largely fruitless.

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal and Andy Kim wrote a joint letter in January to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth asking for information about how deals came together involving companies that received money from Donald Trump Jr’s venture firm, 1789 Capital.

In August, several Democratic lawmakers asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to open an investigation after the Washington Post revealed that 15 companies with investment from Trump’s sons received US$3.2 billion (about $5.5b) in federal contracts, investments and loans – most after Trump took office the second time.

“The potential for corruption is obvious,” the lawmakers wrote. “… We have repeatedly sought, and failed to obtain, an explanation from the DoD and White House of the decision-making criteria, processes, and ethics obligations associated with recent awards to companies with ties to the Trump family.”

If Democrats take control on Capitol Hill, they will chair congressional committees, and that often comes with more power to issue subpoenas and direct who is called in for televised hearings. Their budgets to hire staff to investigate companies would also swell.

In the second Trump administration, leaders such as Palantir CEO Alex Karp, Anduril’s Luckey and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have ingratiated themselves with the Trump White House.

Many of these companies have reaped millions in government contracts to provide their AI software and autonomous weaponry to the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security – raising concerns from watchdog experts and Democratic lawmakers that they are unduly benefiting.

Teboe said the souring public view of technology companies has created an appetite among voters to see them held accountable. “Folks now look at Silicon Valley and they see a number of oppressors,” he said, adding that if “Democrats are on the side of holding tech accountable … that it is fantastic, fantastic politics for them.”

In some investor meetings at defence tech start-ups, “the number one conversation” has been: “You have to build something that will thrive in any administration,” said one person familiar with the conversations at the start-ups.

Companies associated with Musk’s DOGE effort, and those that receive backing from the Trump family and are seeking federal contracts, have started discussing how to prepare for the prospect of Democrats retaking Congress in internal company meetings, said three people familiar with the conversations.

Executives and investors have discussed mitigating the appearance of partisanship by recruiting Democrats to join as board members or leaders, one of the people said.

Rios, of DLA Piper, said preparation has already begun for clients that expect to be targets of subpoenas. Smaller AI firms and emerging defence technology firms that don’t have large communications and government affairs teams must begin reaching out to Hill staff to explain their story now, Rios added.

Regardless, he said, the simple act of an investigation could hinder financial opportunities.

“You can come in and get out clean and [investigations could] still have a huge business impact,” he said.