Now the Republican National Committee SUES the January 6 committee over Salesforce subpoena

The Republican National Committee sued the House January 6 committee on Wednesday over a subpoena to collect information from Salesforce, accusing the Democrat-led panel with trying to get data on RNC members. 

‘The RNC has sued to stop the January 6th Committee from unlawfully seizing confidential information about the internal activities of the Republican Party and millions of its supporters which is completely unrelated to the attack on the Capitol,’ RNC Chief Counsel Justin Riemer said in a statement. 

He called the committee’s subpoena ‘staggeringly broad’ and said the RNC is ‘challenging this unconstitutional overreach so that one of America’s two major political parties may not use the force of government to unlawfully seize the private and sensitive information of the other.’ 

Former President Donald Trump is seen on January 6, 2021, outside the White House – shortly before the crowd traveled to the Capitol to try and stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election 

Trump’s supporters left the rally and surged down towards the Capitol

The Capitol is seen under attack on January 6, 2021, as Trump supporters storm the building

Committee spokesman Tim Mulvey said in a statement Wednesday that the January 6 panel is looking at fundraising emails sent out between election day 2020 and the day of the attack by the RNC and the Trump campaign, which ‘solicited donations by pushing false claims that the election was tainted by widespread fraud.’ 

‘These emails encouraged supporters to put pressure on Congress to keep President Trump in power,’ Mulvey said. ‘Claims about a stolen election motivated rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th.’ 

Salesforce’s mass email tool was used by both the RNC and the Trump campaign, the January 6 committee said. 

Mulvey said the subpoena was issued to Salesforce, which he described as an ’email vendor’ to ‘help investigators understand the impact of false, inflammatory messages in the weeks before January 6th, the flow of funds, and whether contributions were actually directed to the purpose indicated.’ 

Salesforce, based in New York, operates email services that allow clients like the RNC to send mass emails

‘This action has absolutely nothing to do with getting the private information of voters or donors,’ Mulvey added. 

On February 23, the January 6 committee subpoenaed Salesforce as it owns a digital marketing company called ExactTarget, which allowed clients – including the RNC – to send mass-email communications. 

Salesforce was to have documents handed over to the committee by March 9, the day the RNC lawsuit was filed. 

In the days following the 2021 attack, Salesforce said it had ‘taken action’ to prevent emails sent out by the RNC from inciting violence.  

‘The Republican National Committee has been a long-standing customer, predating the current Administration,’ a spokesperson for Salesforce told The Verge. ‘We have taken action to prevent its use of our services in any way that could lead to violence.’