McCarthy Threatens Telcos, Social Media Working With Jan. 6 Panel

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., threatened 35 telecom and social media companies Tuesday night not to comply with a request from the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection to preserve records related to the attack, including those relating to some members of Congress. The companies receiving the Jan. 6 committee’s request include Apple, AT&T, Facebook, Google, T-Mobile, Twitter and Verizon. House Democratic leaders’ “attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals’ private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians,” McCarthy said. “If these companies comply … they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate” in the U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., later said on Fox News that telecom companies that comply with the Jan 6 committee “will be shut down.” The Jan. 6 committee has “asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the American people,” a spokesperson for the committee emailed. “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.”