The Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is expected to request that telecommunications companies preserve the phone records of eleven House Republicans, CNN reported Monday.
The eleven members all have close ties to former President Donald Trump, whose records the committee is also expected to request, according to CNN. Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chairman, previously requested that the National Archives preserve communications between all members of Congress and the Trump White House on Jan. 6.
FIRST ON @CNN: The 1/6 Committee will ask telecom companies to preserve the records of members of Congress and the Trump family who participated in the “Stop the Steal” rally.
We have the names.
w/ @ZcohenCNN @AnnieGrayerCNN & @WhitneyWReportshttps://t.co/3neKiWZOeF— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) August 30, 2021
The eleven Republicans named in the report are Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, Georgia Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jody Hice, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry. All eleven objected to at least one state’s Electoral College count and reportedly played a role in the “Stop the Steal” rally. Brooks and Cawthorn spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally which immediately proceeded the riot.
Jordan spoke with Trump on Jan. 6 “more than once,” although he doesn’t “recall the times,” he told Politico on Sunday. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rejected Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s request to appoint Jordan to the Select Committee. Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who is one of two Republicans Pelosi appointed to the Select Committee, said that Jordan “may well be a material witness to events that led to that day” in defending the rejection. (RELATED: Liz Cheney Says She Agrees With Speaker Pelosi On Rejecting Two Republicans For The Jan. 6 Select Committee)
The Select Committee would have to subpoena the telecommunications companies that hold the members’ phone records in order to gain access to the records. The preservation request does not give the committee access to the phone records, but does ensure that the phone companies will maintain the records in preparation for a subpoena.
The Committee demanded that 15 tech companies hand over data on “misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation relating to the 2020 election,” efforts to overturn the election, and “domestic violent extremists,” in Friday, Aug. 27 letter. The companies include Facebook, Google, Twitter, Parler and Tik Tok.
A February analysis conducted by George Washington University found that Facebook was the social media platform most used by rioters.
