RNC Sues January 6th Committee to Block Subpoena of Salesforce Records

What a weird way for a bunch of innocent and transparent people to behave.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the January 6th House Select Committee, revealing a recent effort by House investigators to unearth information about how the GOP and the Trump campaign used an email software to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and fuel violence that led to the US Capitol attack. The Trump campaign and Trump’s PAC in 2020 also used the software, according to the subpoena. In its subpoena letter, the House Select Committee writes that “Between Election Day 2020 and January 6th, the RNC and the Trump campaign solicited donations by pushing false claims that the election was tainted by widespread fraud.”

The House Select Committee issued the Salesforce subpoena on February 23rd, saying the panel was “seeking information from Salesforce regarding whether and how the Trump campaign used Salesforce’s platform to disseminate false statements about the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the January 6th attack,” according to the subpoena. In its subpoena letter, the panel cites how after the violent attack on the Capitol, Salesforce stated that “there remains a risk of politically incited violence across the country.” The panel also references that in light of the risk, Salesforce stated, “The Republican National Committee has been a long-standing customer, predating the [Trump] Administration, and we have taken action to prevent its use of our services in any way that could lead to violence.”

JUST IN: The RNC is suing the Jan. 6 committee to block its subpoena of Salesforce, which processes RNC fundraising matters.

First reported by @jonathanvswan

Read the lawsuit here: https://t.co/AeZZL25Xmy

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 9, 2022

The RNC’s lawsuit seeks to stop a subpoena for donor and supporter data from the software company Salesforce, and its public disclosure comes on the same day RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel met with the Committee. While the RNC’s court filing says the subpoena is “too broad in scope” and would “cover information on vast numbers” of donors and volunteers stored through the service, the Committee says the subpoena is not about collecting information on private donors, but rather about understanding how false claims about the election being stolen fueled Trump supporters to attack the Capitol. In a statement issued Wednesday evening, the Committee said the purpose of the subpoena was to learn more about the services used by Trump and the RNC that amplified false and inflammatory messages about the 2020 election being stolen in the lead up to the attack on the Capitol.

pic.twitter.com/SoYf1Tjryk

— Rhonda Harbison (@rhonda_harbison) March 9, 2022

In the filing, the RNC says the subpoena “violates the Constitution” and “would only serve to chill” the RNC’s and its supporters’ First Amendment rights, while “providing their political opponents with an all-access pass to confidential RNC political strategies and the personal information of millions of its supporters.”

The select committee has released its Feb. 23 letter to SalesForce. It is asking for records it says will show the RNC blanketed Trump supporters with “inflammatory” fundraising pitches fomenting false election claims in the weeks after the election.https://t.co/igkMvCvdtw pic.twitter.com/JqaOvS8f9b

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) March 10, 2022

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According to the lawsuit, the subpoena is seeking information from the company that “would give the Select Committee unprecedented access to the RNC’s internal political strategies and to private, personal information regarding its supporters.” The subpoena directs Salesforce to hand over the requested documents by March 9th and to appear for depositions regarding the documents a week later, the RNC’s court filing says.

The Select Committee issued a subpoena to an email fundraising vendor in order to help investigators understand the impact of false, inflammatory messages in the weeks before January 6th, the flow of funds, & whether contributions were actually directed to the purpose indicated.

— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) March 10, 2022