The Democrat-run committee investigating the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol Building has dropped a key demand ahead of another hearing later this month.
The UK’s DailyMail.com reported that the committee has formally withdrawn its subpoena for fundraising information from the Republican National Committee and former President Donald Trump.
The outlet added that, according to sources familiar with the situation who spoke to The Washington Post, lawyers for the RNC and software vendor Salesforce were informed last week of the committee’s withdrawal of the subpoena.
“The subpoena issued earlier this year sought records from Salesforce on the performance metrics and analytics related to email campaigns from Donald Trump, his reelection campaign and the RNC,” DailyMail.com reported. “It comes as the panel prepares for at least one more hearing this month.
“The committee announced at the conclusion of its series of primetime, televised hearings this summer that there would be more to come in the fall,” the outlet added.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is one of the panel’s two Republicans and who is retiring after his current term, claimed that fundraising done by Trump after the 2020 election was somehow concerning to the committee.
“The fact that the vast majority of this money was raised under ‘Stop the Steal’ with no intention to ‘stop the steal,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Douglas Letter, the House’s general counsel, notified Salesforce in an email, the Post reported.
“Given the current stage of its investigation, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has determined that it no longer has a need to pursue the specific information requested in the February 23, 2022 subpoena that it issued to Salesforce,” the email said, according to the outlet.
In May, a federal judge ruled that the House had the authority to obtain the fundraising information from the RNC and the vendor, but Republicans pushed back.
“We said all along that this subpoena was unconstitutional,” RNC spokeswoman Emma Vaughn said after it was withdrawn. “This is a victory for freedom of speech, privacy, and Americans’ right of political association without fear of partisan reprisal.”
The panel’s other Republican, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, was blown out by a Trump-backed GOP opponent during last month’s primary election. Voters turned on her after she turned on the former president following Jan. 6.
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