Eight House Republicans who are among those supporting or defending the January 6 insurrectionists as “political prisoners” are striking back by targeting the Democratic members of the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and other top Democrats in threatening letters to 14 telecommunications and social media companies.
The letters demand the companies preserve the records of 16 Democrats, including those on the Select Committee, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, Rep. Eric Swalwell, and members of the “Squad,” including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley, Fox News reports.
“Simply put, neither the Committee nor you have the legal authority to provide those records,” the letter reads. “Adopting the misguided legal theory of the Committee Chairman would undoubtedly end with Congress rifling through the private records of any American.”
Experts say that’s false.
In a statement about the letters Rep. Andy Biggs wrote, “From day one Pelosi and the Far-Left Democrats have acted above the law by creating a smear campaign to take down Trump supporters.”
Late last month the Select Committee sent letters to the heads of 35 companies, ordering them to preserve records of people who may have participated in the insurrection or the rallies preceding it. That led House GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose name reportedly was on the list, to go ballistic, claiming the request was illegal, which experts say is incorrect.
The Republicans who signed the letter include Reps. Andy Biggs, Madison Cawthorn, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Jody Hice, and Scott Perry.