A federal appeals court panel has temporarily blocked the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol from obtaining fundraising data from the Republican National Committee.
The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary administrative injunction on Tuesday blocking lawmakers from receiving records from software company Salesforce that detail the RNC’s internal communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021. The House committee subpoenaed those records in February, arguing the data were necessary to understand how fundraising emails sent to Trump supporters may have instigated violence that led to the Capitol attack.
JUDGE REJECTS RNC LAWSUIT SEEKING TO BLOCK JAN. 6 COMMITTEE SUBPOENA
“The purpose of this administrative injunction is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion,” the three-judge panel said. All three judges are Trump appointees.
The move is the latest in a three-month legal battle that began when the RNC sued to block the committee from obtaining its data from Salesforce. The RNC filed an emergency motion Monday seeking relief pending appeal of the decision of a lower-court judge who denied the group from blocking the panel from receiving the data and whose limited injunction was due to expire Wednesday.
“Without an injunction, the RNC will have no opportunity to obtain relief on appeal, as Salesforce has indicated it will respond to the Subpoena and the Congressional Defendants claim the Court is without authority to award relief once Salesforce produces,” lawyers for the RNC wrote in its request.
The House select committee had subpoenaed Salesforce to produce internal records that showed how the RNC profited from fundraising off claims that the 2020 election was stolen. The subpoena sought data from ads sent between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021, with lawmakers arguing the emails helped lead to the violence at the Capitol riot.
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The RNC sued the committee on March 9 in an effort to block the subpoena, arguing the request was excessively broad and would undermine strategic advantages the Republican Party had spent years establishing. It also argued that handing over the data would give Democrats access to sensitive information on donors.
The order issued Tuesday noted it would last “pending further order of the court.” However, investigators have pushed for a quick decision, arguing the data are necessary for review before the committee begins public hearings as soon as next month and the midterm elections in November.
