RNC sues over Jan. 6 panel’s subpoena of Salesforce

The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Wednesday said it will sue the U.S. House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot after it subpoenaed Salesforce for information about the party’s fundraising efforts.

The RNC, in a press release, said the House committee’s subpoena of Salesforce, a customer relationship software company used by the RNC for fundraising efforts, violates the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment and “does not advance a legislative purpose.”

Probing fundraising efforts through Salesforce would give “unprecedented access to the RNC’s internal political strategies and to private, personal information regarding its supporters,” according to the lawsuit, first reported by Axios.

Justin Riemer, the RNC’s chief counsel, said the committee was seeking confidential information about the the party and millions of its supporters for something “completely unrelated to the attack on the Capitol.”

“The RNC is challenging this unconstitutional overreach so that one of America’s two major political parties may not use the force of government to unlawfully seize the private and sensitive information of the other,” Riemer said in a statement.

The House committee subpoenaed Salesforce on Feb. 23, seeking documents from the Salesforce Marketing Cloud platform used by the RNC, according to the lawsuit. 

A Select Committee spokesperson responded to the lawsuit in a statement, saying the RNC and the Trump campaign solicited donations  “pushing false claims that the election was tainted by widespread fraud.”

“Claims about a stolen election motivated rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6th,” said spokesperson Tim Mulvey. 

“The Select 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 indicated. This action has absolutely nothing to do with getting the private information of voters or donors.”

In its wide-reaching investigation of the events on and around Jan. 6, the congressional panel has interviewed and subpoenaed dozens of people, including various figures close to former President Trump. 

Updated: 9:57 p.m.