Democratic senators are calling on federal prosecutors to start an investigation into the president-elect’s mishandling of the Energy Department’s transition, saying the Trump team broke the law by singling out employees involved in climate change work.

A group of nine senators, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, sent a letter to the Office of Special Counsel, the government’s independent investigative and prosecutorial agency, saying a questionnaire sent by the Trump team to the Energy Department a week ago “violated long-standing federal laws designed to protect civil servants against coercion for partisan purposes.”