Ocasio-Cortez Tasked With Investigating Trump

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined her second House committee—and it's the primary investigative body that will soon hear testimony from President Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday announced the 29-year-old congresswoman from New York as one of four new Democratic members, but she's not the only rookie, or even the fiercest Trump critic, per CNN. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan—the first Palestinian female member of Congress who previously labeled Trump a "motherf---er," while calling for his impeachment. They join the ranks alongside Massachusetts' first black female member of Congress, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who is in his second term. All four are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, or as Politico puts it, "progressive flamethrowers."

They were chosen by the Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee, of which Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan is a member. "I want people to be aggressive … It’s good to have people who aren’t afraid," he tells Politico. "They’re going to be dealing with some pretty important stuff." Indeed, "we will investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in the Trump Administration," the Oversight Committee's new chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland says, per the New York Daily News. Cummings dismisses concerns about the new members' outspokenness, telling Politico he's "excited." "If I based the choices going on the committee based on what people said or their reputations or whatever, I probably wouldn't have a committee,” he says. Cohen is to face the committee on Feb. 7. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be questioned on March 14. (Ocasio-Cortez says Trump is racist.)