House Oversight Republicans Say FBI’s Capitol Riot Probe Into Parler Should Include Facebook, Twitter

The Parler app logo on a smartphone with its website in the background in Arlington, Va., on July 2, 2020. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee criticized calls by the panel’s chairwoman for an FBI investigation into the role the social media platform Parler may have played in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as “blatantly and overtly partisan,” arguing that for any such probe to be fair, it should also include Facebook and Twitter.

Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.) made the remarks in a letter (pdf) to committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who last week asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to begin a “robust investigation” into whether Parler played a role in the Capitol breach.