- The January 6 select committee announced two weeks ago it will seek electronic records from “several hundred people,” including members of Congress.
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., claimed any company that hands over records to the committee will be “shut down.”
- Several companies received letters from House Republicans asking to preserve Democrats’ records, including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and several House Republicans sent letters on Tuesday to 14 telecommunications companies asking them to preserve the phone records and data of 16 Democrats so that “future Congresses can investigate alleged infractions,” Fox Business reported.
The letters were sent two weeks after the January 6 select committee announced it will seek electronic communication records from “several hundred people,” including members of Congress, for its investigation into the Capitol riot.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene decried the move on the August 31 episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” threatening any company that handed over records to the committee would be “shut down.”
Republican representatives echoed this sentiment in their subsequent letters, one of which was written to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and tweeted by Rep. Paul Gosar: “The US Constitution and the US Supreme Court precedent prevents committees from obtaining these records and prohibits you from providing them. Simply put, neither the committee nor you have the legal authority to provide those records.”
Legal experts told The Washington Post that there isn’t a specific law stopping these companies from handing over information to the committee.
Several other companies also received letters, including Amazon, AOL, Apple, AT&T, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snap, Inc., T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon, Signal, and Telegram.
If the companies decide to turn over records to the January 6 select committee, the letters asked that they also preserve the records of several Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, Fox Business reported.
Republican Reps. Jody Hice, Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry, Louie Gohmert, and Madison Cawthorn joined Biggs, Greene, and Gosar in signing the letter to Dorsey.
