"My main purpose is not to get the president. My main purpose is to get the truth," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said. | Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Congress An old-school Democrat takes on Trump’s foreign policy Eliot Engel is a throwback to a faded era of compromise. But in 2019, he's taking on one of Congress’ most partisan roles: Trump investigator.

Eliot Engel is a soft-spoken throwback to a faded era of compromise and collegiality on Capitol Hill. But in 2019, the New York Democrat is taking on one of Congress’ most partisan roles: Donald Trump investigator.

As the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Engel has vowed to examine the president’s Russia ties, approach to North Korea and reaction to Saudi Arabia’s murder of a U.S.-based journalist — just to name a few topics. He has even re-established a subcommittee dedicated to probing Trump.


When talking about this politically loaded work, though, Engel evinces little of the rhetorical zeal that led impeachment-minded voters to put Engel’s party in charge of the House.

“If he did something wrong, then he should be worried. If he didn’t do anything wrong, then he shouldn’t be worried,” Engel said of Trump in an interview with POLITICO. “My main purpose is not to get the president. My main purpose is to get the truth.”

Engel’s role will take on even more prominence with the retirement of Republican Sen. Bob Corker, a vocal Trump critic who used his perch atop the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to rebuke the president’s approach to countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. Corker’s successor as chairman, Republican Jim Risch of Idaho, prefers to keep private any differences he has with Trump, and told POLITICO he intends to focus his committee’s work on issues such as China’s rising power.

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Even without the Democrats in charge of the House, Trump was facing increasing pushback from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress on foreign policy. And now, a Democratic-led House Foreign Affairs Committee — with Engel leading the panel in a more investigative direction — means Trump will face an even more aggressive check on his powers. In Engel’s opinion, Congress has for decades ceded too much power on foreign policy to the executive branch.

“It’s our responsibility to investigate … and to reassert Congress’ jurisdiction,” he said.

The House committee’s first hearing, slated for Wednesday, will examine a highly sensitive topic: U.S. policy on the Arabian Peninsula. That will include the war in Yemen, where the U.S. is supporting Saudi Arabia in a fight against Iranian-backed rebels that has killed thousands and left millions more on the brink of starvation.

“There are a lot of people who are very concerned about American complicity in the death of innocent civilians, including children, in the war in Yemen,” Engel said. He added that although he respects Saudi Arabia’s desire to counter Iran, “we have to be very careful when it’s our weapons that are killing innocent civilians.”

Saudi Arabia’s murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi is likely to come up. Trump has refused to sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the slaying, despite reports linking the powerful royal — a friend of Trump son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner — to the murder.

Engel also wants to investigate Trump’s treatment of the State Department.

The Republican president has tried — unsuccessfully — to slash the department’s budget by a third, and his administration has failed to fill many of its top positions. Administration officials have also been accused of isolating and punishing Civil and Foreign Service officers they accused of disloyalty to Trump. Some were pushed into jobs processing Freedom of Information Act requests in what many suspected was an effort to make them quit.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has agreed to appear before the House committee to address issues related to his department, but it’s not clear when.

Another topic high on Engel’s list: U.S. policy toward North Korea. Trump’s decision to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in June has not gone over well with Engel, who said he’s “not at all satisfied” that North Korea is rolling back its nuclear program. Trump plans to hold another summit with Kim in late February.

And of course there’s Russia, the subject that nearly every House committee wants to get its hands on. Engel’s slice of the Russia pie would likely include probes into whether the president tried to hide details of his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Engel’s panel may not go as deep on the subject as the House Intelligence Committee, which is expected to take the lead on the more sensitive question of whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia on its election interference efforts.

Even as he calls one hearing after another that will feature pointed criticism of the president, Engel hopes to retain his bipartisan credentials. Engel’s Republican counterpart on the House committee is Mike McCaul, a vocal representative from Texas who has praised Trump as being “strong and decisive” on foreign policy. Engel said he and McCaul have a good rapport.

Engel had a strong relationship with his predecessor atop the Foreign Affairs panel, GOP Rep. Ed Royce of California. The pair often worked behind the scenes to shepherd legislation. Royce, who has left Congress, even showed up in Engel’s office Wednesday, the same day as POLITICO’s interview, hoping to chat with his successor, but he had to leave before Engel could arrive.

Over in the Senate, the Republican-led Foreign Relations Committee is expected to be a more subdued body. Risch, its new chairman, is taking over for Corker, one the few Republicans who regularly clashed in public with Trump. Corker even once suggested that the president could lead the U.S. into World War III.

Risch is not expected to launch any investigations of the Trump administration. In an interview, Risch signaled that he wanted to focus on pressing issues beyond Russia.

“Right now, Russia gets an inordinate amount of attention,” Risch said. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t need attention — it does — but … they don’t have the change power that China does.”

Risch also touted the committee’s ability to work in a bipartisan way, while noting its ambitious membership.

“We’ve got an outstanding crew,” he said. “If you count up all the people who have run for president or who are running for president — makes up almost half of the committee.”

The ranking Democrat on the Senate committee is Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Menendez opposes Trump on many fronts, but he also has hawkish views on Cuba, Iran and Venezuela that at times align him with the Republican president. Menendez is also closer to Republican ideology on Israel than some of his more progressive Democratic colleagues.

Menendez, like Engel, is concerned about the treatment of the State Department. His influence over the confirmation process has irked Pompeo, who claims that Menendez is blocking many nominees, a charge Menendez dismisses.

Risch may find himself overshadowed at times by some of the other Republicans on the Senate committee. That includes three Republicans new to the panel — Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. Cruz and Graham are vocal on many topics, and Graham, who confers frequently with Trump, isn’t shy about publicly disagreeing with the president.

Romney, a former Republican presidential nominee, lambasted Trump during the 2016 campaign, and critics of the president hope he will continue to stand up to the president now that he’s a senator. He kicked off his Senate career with an op-ed saying “the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

Romney said he anticipates he'll be given some responsibility related to the Middle East but agreed with Risch that China would be a primary focus.

"The greatest challenge to the preservation … of liberal democracy in the world is the emergence of China and their authoritarian regime, so that will certainly be a major effort," he said.

One tweak to the Senate committee is that there are now 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, as opposed to 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Observers point out this change undermines Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky senator who often flirts with bucking the GOP.

“The committee is now Rand-proof,” a GOP Senate aide said.

More broadly, though, Senate Republicans have shown more of a willingness to band together and buck Trump on foreign policy. This past week, the Senate agreed to advance an amendment that cautioned against the "precipitous withdrawal" of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Syria. The amendment came after Trump unexpectedly announced that he would pull U.S. troops from Syria — prompting a bipartisan backlash.

Over at the House committee, some new additions promise increased internal debate among Democrats.

New faces include Rep. Tom Malinowski, who served as assistant secretary of State for human rights, democracy and labor under the Obama administration; Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer and counter-terrorism expert; and Ilhan Omar, who made history last year by becoming one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

Omar’s left-leaning views may contrast the most with Engel's stances.

The committee chairman is a vocal supporter of Israel, while Omar is an example of a growing progressive strain in the Democratic Party that is more willing to question Israeli actions, especially against Palestinians.

Some of Omar’s past comments about Israel have already spurred furious debate. GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, who is also on the Foreign Affairs Committee, has even introduced a resolution implying that Omar and fellow Muslim Rep. Rashida Tlaib are anti-Semitic — charges they deny.

Omar’s subcommittee assignments include the panel that deals with human rights, giving her a platform to air her views.

Asked about how he will get along with Omar and others more to left than him, Engel said “reasonable people can disagree” and that views can change.

“I’m not going to slam the door on anybody,” he said. “And I will judge each person, certainly on my committee, the way he or she acts in a collegial way.”