The House of Representatives panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol has stopped trying to get courts to order the Republican National Committee (RNC) and its vendor to hand over documents before a round of upcoming public hearings.
“The Select Committee recognizes that the Salesforce documentation will not be available on the timeline required for use in its hearings,” Douglas Letter, the House’s general counsel, said in a filing on May 29.
“The Select Committee no longer seeks the Salesforce documentation on a highly expedited schedule, and the Select Committee will continue to evaluate its needs for information on these and other related issues as additional material potentially becomes available from other sources.”
The House committee, dominated by Democrats after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected members picked by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), is set to hold eight public hearings in June.
The panel has been trying to get information from Salesforce, the RNC’s vendor, since February. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and other lawmakers say the data, which include confidential information relating to email campaigns, are needed to figure out whether Salesforce was used to spread “false statements” about the 2020 election in the weeks before the Capitol breach.
The RNC sued, arguing the subpoena was overbroad and unconstitutional. A court battle ensued.
The committee would have until July 22 to file a response and the RNC could reply to that response through Aug. 19.
The court would then schedule oral arguments.
The House’s stance differs greatly from that in other recent filings. On May 24, for instance, House lawyers said the panel needed the requested materials soon for the report it plans to issue, asserting that Congress would be “less informed” and its efforts impeded by the continued failure to get the data.
On May 6, lawyers noted the upcoming hearings and said the panel “is continuing to gather material central to these hearings, and the information sought from the RNC will be of considerable value in that effort.”
An injunction, even a temporary one, “would deprive the Select Committee of key information relevant to its investigation, its public hearings, and its consideration of legislation” and could force its efforts to prevent another breach past the midterm elections,” the lawyers argued.
The new filing wasn’t opposed by the RNC, according to House lawyers. Salesforce says it “takes no position regarding this motion.”
