Jan. 6 committee drops subpoena for RNC fundraising data: reports

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is dropping its subpoena of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the software vendor Salesforce for information related to fundraising emails the party sent ahead of the attack, multiple media outlets reported. 

The Washington Post first reported on Friday that counsel for the RNC and Salesforce were notified this week that the committee is withdrawing the subpoena, deeming the information not necessary anymore at this stage of the investigation. 

“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,” Douglas Letter, the House general counsel, wrote in an email to the RNC and Salesforce, according to the Post. 

Salesforce owns the platform that the RNC uses to fundraise. 

The House committee subpoenaed Salesforce for information related to RNC fundraising efforts in February, saying the committee and the Trump campaign solicited donations with unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was tainted by massive voter fraud. A Jan. 6 committee spokesperson said in March that the committee wanted to investigate the impact of false messages in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack and where donations were directed.

The RNC filed a lawsuit to quash the subpoena in March, saying that it violated the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and did not “advance a legislative purpose.” A federal judge rejected the lawsuit in May, saying that it did not violate the RNC’s constitutional rights and that the select committee’s interest in obtaining the information outweighed any burden placed on the RNC. 

But an appeals court temporarily blocked the committee from obtaining the records later that month while the RNC challenged the subpoena. 

The decision comes as the select committee is expected to resume its public hearings on the insurrection later this month following a break. 

RNC spokeswoman Emma Vaughn told The Hill that the RNC argued “all along” that the subpoena was unconstitutional.

“This is a victory for freedom of speech, privacy, and Americans’ right of political association without fear of partisan reprisal,” she said.

The select committee did not immediately return a request from The Hill for comment. A spokesperson for Salesforce declined to comment.

–-Updated on Sept. 6 at 9:07 a.m.