Verizon sued by alleged January 6 Capitol event organizers to prevent phone records release
The House Select Committee that is in charge of figuring out what happened on January 6 when the United State Capitol was stormed by a crowd disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election, has subpoenaed Verizon for the cell phone communication records of people allegedly involved in organizing and encouraging that same crowd.
The event was highly televised so the investigators already managed to identify and prosecute a number of those responsible for the brouhaha, but are now collecting evidence to determine the real instigators and try to figure out what exactly transpired in the runup to the January 6 storming of the Capitol. Verizon's subpoenas reportedly aim for "a range of records that include materials dealing with the planning, funding, and participation in the events and bus tours; social media activity of associated entities; and communications with or involvement of Trump Administration officials and lawmakers."
A number of those involved received letters from Verizon that their phone records will be investigated by the Committee, and have filed a lawsuit against the motion on Monday, reports ABC. In it, plaintiffs like Caporale, Unes, Mulvaney, or Powers, are arguing that it would be "unconstitutional" for Verizon to disclose their phone records to the Committee.
If Congress wanted to know anything more about the plaintiffs' narrow intersection with the events it is allegedly investigating, it needed only have asked. Instead, Congress pivoted to Verizon, the telecommunications carrier for each of the Plaintiffs, to indiscriminately demand detailed information about their accounts, contacts, political associates, and locations over a three-month period that greatly exceeds the short window of time about which Congress questioned the plaintiffs.
Apart from Verizon, there are about 34 more telecommunication and social media companies subpoenaed for messaging and call records, though, so former Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock thinks the effort is a long shot meant to stall the investigation until an expected 2022 red House elections wave turns the tide against the Committee. "The Biden Justice Department will still be there to hold them in contempt until at least January 2025," she added. A number of subpoenas for testifying in front of the House Select Committee on the January 6 events have already gone out with varying compliance success.
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