Obstruction of Justice, Witness Intimidation, Abuse of Office, Racketeering, ………

New: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens telecom companies to not comply with Jan. 6 committee request for phone records, claiming it would violate federal law — “A Republican majority will not forget.”

— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 31, 2021

RShameless

House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy has threatened telephone companies if they cooperate with the House investigation of the insurrection.

Seriously, this is both criminal and a violation of House ethics.

Why has someone not filed a complaint with the Ethics  Committee or called the FBI?

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday threatened to use a future GOP majority to punish companies that comply with the House’s Jan. 6 investigators, warning that “a Republican majority will not forget.”

McCarthy called out Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for what he called “attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data.” He asserted that such a forfeiture of information would “put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians.”

………

“The Select Committee is investigating the violent attack on the Capitol and attempt to overturn the results of last year’s election,” a committee spokesperson said in a statement, responding to McCarthy's threat. “We’ve asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the American people. The committee’s efforts won’t be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6th, or obstruct our investigation.”

………

“If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States,” McCarthy said in Tuesday’s statement. “If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law.”

Schiff said on Tuesday that McCarthy’s threat was “premised on a falsehood.”

“He’s scared. And I think his boss is scared,” Schiff said on MSNBC. “They didn’t want this commission and this select committee to go forward. They certainly didn’t want it to go forward as it is on a bipartisan basis, and they don’t want the country to know exactly what they were involved in.

Complaining about the investigation, though transparently lame, is well withing the purview of the normal give and take of politics, but specific threats of retaliation through official acts is a crime.

Kevin McCarthy needs to be in the dock over this, and I mean this literally.

If he did this off the floor of the House, Congressional immunity does not apply, if he did, then the House should begin expulsion proceedings.