Rachel Cotton Discusses Post-Midterm Congressional Investigations in Sustainable Views

Arnold & Porter White Collar Defense & Investigations partner Rachel Cotton was quoted in the recent Sustainable Views article, “Democratic midterm victory could create new risks for companies,” which examined how a divided government could affect companies’ legal and regulatory exposure.

Rachel explained that, if Democrats win control of the House in the midterm elections, they would likely bring more investigations, hearings, and subpoenas. This could leave companies “between a rock and a hard place, where Democrats in Congress are investigating them while [the companies] still want to have positive and productive interactions with the Trump administration,” she said.

She noted that congressional investigations pose reputational risks to companies, but other risks comes from the fact that third parties, including state attorneys general and potential plaintiffs, monitor congressional investigations closely, which can create additional legal exposure. “[T]he risks of a congressional investigation are certainly reputational, but what they are really good at is taking private facts and making them public,” she said.

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