The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the House panel probing last year’s Capitol attack, claiming the congressional committee attempted to find potentially confidential information on RNC members. The lawsuit targets a February subpoena to Salesforce. The Jan. 6 committee focuses on emails from the RNC in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack claiming the 2020 election was stolen.
Illegitimate committee and “fishing expedition”
According to a case filed Wednesday in Washington, the House select committee investigating a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters approved an “overbroad” subpoena for sensitive RNC data from Salesforce.com Inc., a key vendor. The Republican National Committee has initially called the Jan. 6 committee illegitimate.
It censured Republican members, and tried to argue that the perilous siege of the Capitol, which forced lawmakers to leave and harmed more than 140 police officers, was “legitimate political discourse. The RNC lawsuit defines the subpoena as a “fishing expedition” to expose sensitive information about donors and fundraising practices that is staggeringly broad and unduly burdensome, Yahoo posted.
First and Fourth Amendments violations
According to the document, the RNC and its millions of followers face a new threat that will unquestionably chill their First Amendment rights and expose RNC supporters to retaliation and harassment. Turning over the information would give political opponents unrestricted access to confidential RNC political strategies and the personal information of millions of its supporters.
The RNC asserts it is in violation of the First and Fourth Amendments, and that the committee is not properly organized and thus lacks the authority to subpoena records. Whether or not it prevails in court, the RNC may attempt to prolong the process hoping that the November midterm elections will render it moot, Axios reported.
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