RNC denies blocking Jan. 6 committee's request for email, fundraising data

WASHINGTON - A federal judge denied an attempt by the Republican National Committee to block the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 from obtaining email and fundraising data from Salesforce.

In a 53-sided ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly of Washington, D.C. shot down the RNC's argument that the subpoena issued to Salesforce in February was denied on First Amendment grounds.

The judge wrote that House Defendants are not seeking, and Salesforce is not producing, any disaggregated information about any of the RNC's donors, volunteers or email recipients, including any person s personally identifiable information.

Kelly said he didn't agree with the RNC's argument that the House committee does not have the proper authorization to wield investigative power. He said that the panel was focusing on a short period between the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6, and asked for information about fundraising emails sent through Salesforce's platform that helped spread falsehoods that Joe Biden's victory was fraudulent.

The subpoena seeks information that will help the committee determine whether and how much those email campaigns attracted attention and thus were a factor in the January 6 attack, Kelly wrote. The demand of the select committee is narrowly tailored to its interests. The court has already explained that the select committee seeks relevant information from a narrow window during which the RNC sent emails promoting claims that the presidential election was fraudulent or stolen. The RNC said disclosure of Salesforce's email data would hinder its ability to pursue political goals such as winning elections and advocating for its policies. The judge said less is at stake than the RNC, because some of the email information is already publicly available or readily available from publicly available sources. Kelly ordered Salesforce not to release any information requested in the subpoena before Wednesday to give the RNC time to appeal the judge's decision.

The ruling stemmed from the RNC's lawsuit against the House select committee and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. in early March, following the Feb. 23 subpoena. The subpoena was called a fishing expedition by the RNC. In a statement at the time, RNC attorney Justin Riemer said that the Committee and the Committee have weaponized Congress' investigatory powers by issuing this staggeringly broad subpoena that tramples on the core First Amendment rights of the RNC and millions of Americans.

In March, House Committee spokesman Tim Mulvey said that the subpoena focuses on fundraising emails from former President Donald Trump's campaign and the RNC that include false claims about election fraud.

The 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, and whether contributions were actually directed to the purpose stated, according to Mulvey in a statement. This action has no correlation with the private information of voters or donors.