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Marathon Strategies Launches Congressional Investigations Readiness Practice as Companies Brace for Post-Midterm Oversight

October 28, 2026

New practice pairs the firm’s investigative research capability with communications strategy to help companies find their exposure before Congress does — working in concert with GCs, Comms & GR teams, outside counsel, and lobbyists

Reputation and Public Affairs Readiness, Before the Subpoena

New York, NY — October 28, 2026 — Marathon Strategies, an independent, non-partisan strategic communications and investigative research firm, today formally launched a Congressional Investigations Readiness practice to help companies prepare for the heightened congressional oversight expected to follow next week’s midterm elections.

With a change in control of at least one chamber widely anticipated, subpoena power is poised to change hands. Democratic leaders have been explicit about how they intend to use it. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has promised to “hold the crooks accountable beginning on Day One,” and companies including Amazon and Nvidia have already received inquiries. Lawyers who lead congressional investigations practices report that corporate clients now expect “a broad wave of congressional investigations directed against Corporate America.”

Much of that oversight is expected to be “outside-in.” As veteran Washington strategist Bruce Mehlman has written, investigators blocked by the White House will seek information about the administration by subpoenaing the companies that “engaged, cut deals with or supported” it. Marathon expects three lines of inquiry: who got what from Washington and what they gave in return; who is profiting from higher consumer prices; and whether the companies entrusted with the country’s readiness in areas such as infrastructure, AI, and defense are delivering.

“For two years, getting close to this administration looked like smart business. In January, it may look like evidence,” said Phil Singer, Founder and CEO of Marathon Strategies. “Your lawyers will tell you how to answer the subpoena. The harder question is how to answer the headline — and that question has to be answered before the letter arrives, not after.”

Investigations First

The practice is built around Marathon’s investigative research capability, which the firm views as the essential first step in any oversight preparation. Before a company can tell its story, it needs to know what a committee staffer will find. Marathon’s researchers build the same timeline a hostile investigator would build — donations, contracts, meetings, waivers, regulatory filings, public statements, and executive social media — so that leadership, counsel and communicators are working from the complete picture rather than discovering it in a document request or a hearing.

History shows the cost of being caught flat-footed. In 2019, House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Capital One for records related to the president’s finances; the resulting legal process ran nearly four years, much of it fought in the headlines, before it was dismissed in January 2023. A subpoena does not have to be enforced to hurt. And when Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote to more than 40 donors to the White House ballroom last fall, only 16 had replied by mid-November — a reminder that questions deferred without a subpoena tend to return with one.

“Every investigation I worked on at the Times started the same way: with a paper trail the company either didn’t know existed or never imagined anyone would read,” said Ray Hernandez, Managing Director for Research & Investigations at Marathon, who spent two decades at The New York Times writing investigative and enterprise reports. “A vulnerability assessment is that same exercise. Run it on yourself before a committee staffer or a reporter runs it on you. Companies that have done the work know where their soft spots are and have their answers ready. Companies that haven’t end up learning about their own record from a subpoena cover letter or a front page.”

The practice offers an integrated set of services, including:

Exposure assessment. A privileged, investigator’s-eye review of a company’s dealings with the administration, pricing practices, and other likely areas of scrutiny.
Narrative development. A plain-English account of each dealing — why it made business sense and whom it helped — built to withstand a hearing room and a newsroom.
Witness and executive preparation. Preparing leaders for the cameras as well as the committee.
Stakeholder and relationship mapping. Identifying the members, staff, validators, and third parties who matter, on both sides of the aisle, starting with members who represent a company’s workforce.
Scenario rehearsal. Gaming out the letter, the subpoena, the hearing, and the next day’s headlines before any of them arrive.
Media and social monitoring. Tracking traditional media and social platforms to catch an emerging narrative, a leak or an activist campaign while there is still time to shape it.
Real-time media and stakeholder management. Managing communications with reporters, employees, customers, and investors while the oversight process runs its course.
Digital targeting. Geo-targeted and audience-targeted digital content that puts a company’s message in front of the lawmakers who matter, their staff, and the constituents and influencers they listen to.

Built To Work With The Team A Company Already Has

The practice is designed to work with, not around, a company’s existing advisers. Marathon supports in-house general counsels, chief communications officers, and government relations teams and works alongside outside counsel and lobbyists, including under privilege when appropriate. The legal strategy stays with the lawyers, while Marathon ensures the public record matches the legal one.

“General counsels, communications chiefs, and government relations leads know an inquiry may be coming. What they often don’t have is a dedicated team to run the public piece while they manage the legal and political side,” said Andrew Brenner, Managing Director in Marathon’s Washington, D.C., office. “We plug into the company’s existing operation — the GC, the CCO, the GR lead, outside counsel, the lobbyists — and establish the playbook to manage reputational risk. With the political pressures and scrutiny sure to come in the next Congress, companies cannot afford to choose between winning the legal argument and protecting their reputation.”

Companies interested in assessing their exposure and preparing a strategy can contact Marathon Strategies at info@marathonstrategies.com.

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