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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warned tech companies on Tuesday not to cooperate with the House Select Committee’s investigation into the deadly Jan 6 insurrection.
The House Select Committee has requested that thirty-five communications companies preserve information relevant to its investigation into the Capitol attack and “efforts to delay or interfere” with the transfer of power after the 2020 election.
“Adam Schiff, Bennie Thompson, and Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicans,” the House Minority Leader tweeted on Tuesday.
“If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States. If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law.”
Democrats and ethics experts criticized McCarthy and accused him of violating House ethics rules.
“To me, that’s pretty straight-up intimidation and obstruction,” Representative Eric Swalwell said. “It’s the congressional equivalent of ‘snitches get stitches.’ That’s kind of what he’s telling them.”
“When you compare what he’s saying now to the opposition he’s expressed in the past to NSA collection of bulk metadata, it’s really hard to not come to the conclusion that these remarks are being driven by partisan concerns, and not ideological and principled concerns about government access to private data,” Jonathan Bydlak, Director of the Governance Program at the R Street Institution, told ABC News.
The lawmakers want to know former President Donald Trump’s role in the insurrection and what led to the events on January 6.
“This is very unusual for a member of Congress, especially someone in a leadership role in the House, to try to intervene and prevent a congressional committee from trying to do its job,” Craig Holman, a lobbyist for Public Citizens, a watchdog group, said.
“By demanding that no one participates with the Select Committee, he is undermining the credibility of Congress itself,” the lobbyist said.
Public Citizen is considering filing a complaint against the Congressman for disrupting the investigation.
“It is not illegal for the Select Committee to request that the companies preserve the records, and to demand that the records be turned over under subpoena if the committee can produce sufficient evidence to warrant that action,” Holman said.
Newly appointed Vice-Chair of the House Select Committee, Representative Liz Cheney, announced that the Committee plans to expand its investigation.
“We will not be deterred by threats or attempted obstruction and we will not rest until our task is complete,” Representative Cheney said.
