Sebastian Gorka, a conservative pundit and onetime White House adviser to former President Trump, sued the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in an effort to block lawmakers from obtaining his phone records from Verizon.
Gorka filed suit in D.C. federal district court on Tuesday, arguing that the select committee is overstepping its authority by subpoenaing the personal information of a private citizen.
“The Select Committee’s aimless rifling through the communications records of an adverse political journalist whom it knows had no role in the events it claims to be investigating epitomizes an investigation run amok,” Gorka’s lawyer wrote in the complaint.
“The toxic forces rending this country apart will only be strengthened, and the goal of more tranquil times will be more elusive, if any party holding a majority of seats in the House of Representatives can hunt down and persecute citizens, including journalists, because of their political sympathies and speech in an effort to silence that speech.”
The lawsuit, first reported by Politico, asks a federal judge for an injunction blocking Verizon from complying with the subpoena.
A spokesman for the select committee declined to comment.
The lawsuit argues that the select committee is not a proper legislative body and that the subpoena lacks a valid purpose.
Gorka’s suit adds to a growing number of legal challenges against the panel’s investigation. Several members of Trump’s inner circle, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have sued to block committee subpoenas. And the Supreme Court is currently weighing Trump’s effort to block the committee from accessing hundreds of pages of White House records in the custody of the National Archives.