January 3, 2022
Washington, DC
Conservatives are opposed to the ongoing abuse of power demonstrated by the January 6th Select Committee, which continues to weaponize Congress’ investigative authority against American citizens – private individuals and Members of Congress – in unprecedented ways.
Based on the House resolution that formed the Select committee, the committee, made up of Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked henchmen, is not only improperly constituted, but so are its official actions – including formal depositions, which can no longer be the basis for further action.
At the outset of the committee’s formation, Chairman Bennie Thompson sent letters to 35 telecom, email, and social media companies instructing them to preserve call details, text messages, location records, and the content of posts for a list of individuals which reportedly include Members of Congress, members of the Trump family, and a host of regular Americans who may have been “otherwise involved” – in what, it is not clear. The records request, which is supposedly related to the events of January 6th, for some reason goes all the way back to April 2020.
Thompson didn’t bother to say who, exactly, he was after. “We have quite an exhaustive list of people,” Thompson told CNN. “I won’t tell you who they are.” And he made clear in his letters to Verizon, AT&T, and other companies, that he did not want them notifying the users that their data is being turned over to the government.
In short, Thompson issued a surveillance order for a secret list of people who haven’t necessarily done anything wrong, and who Democrats want to be prohibited from knowing that the intimate details of their digital lives are being harvested by Congress.
The committee has since escalated its violations by referring criminal contempt charges to the Department of Justice for those who refuse to comply – including, for example, for former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, whose actions have no demonstrated connection to the events of January 6th. The DOJ, which has not pursued a criminal contempt charge in roughly 40 years despite receiving many of them, has acted in a nakedly partisan manner in issuing charges against Steve Bannon.
The DOJ must now determine whether it is going to continue to be a partisan lapdog for this illegitimate House entity. We call on the Department to put a halt to this nonsense, and to refuse to bring the criminal contempt charges sought by the committee against Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark, neither of whom has engaged in criminal contempt of Congress.
Not content with bullying and threatening anyone who does not comply to their satisfaction with whatever the committee decides it wants, the committee is now threatening subpoenas against their own House colleagues, a wild and unprecedented breach of protocol, decorum, and House tradition, as well as an assault on the Constitutionally protected “speech and debate” clause rights of members of Congress, and thus on the Constitution itself.
All of this, it should be noted, is occurring against the backdrop of an investigation already completed by federal law enforcement. The FBI – which seized banking, phone, social media, and geolocation records from the nearly 600 people they arrested and charged, found no evidence of any central coordination or organization.
According to senior law enforcement officials, “90 to 95 percent of these are one-off cases . . . there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages.” Moreover, investigations demanded by Democratic House members into Republican House members, conducted by both the inspector general of the Capitol Police and the Government Accountability Office, have turned up nothing.
The actions of the January 6th Committee then, are clearly not in pursuit of a law enforcement or investigatory end – that work has already been completed and turned up nothing. Instead, it is designed purely to prosecute a political agenda, to name and shame individuals who haven’t done anything criminal, but because they were remotely connected to President Trump or the event itself.
In 1957, the Supreme Court held that “there is no congressional power to expose for the sake of exposure” or to engage in conduct “where the predominant result can only be an invasion of the private rights of individuals.” House Democrats should take heed.
The January 6th Select Committee is a gross abuse of congressional power against American citizens – private individuals and Members of Congress. It is an assault on the rule of law which is a bedrock principle of our form of government. We emphatically condemn it and urge all Americans who believe in a system of justice that is fair and equal to condemn it as well.
| The Honorable Edwin Meese III Attorney General President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988) |
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell Chairman, Conservative Action Project (CAP) Chairman, Constitutional Congress, Inc. |
| David N. Bossie President Citizens United |
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli, II Senior Fellow Center for Renewing America |
| The Honorable Bob McEwen (R-OH) U.S. House Committee on Rules Former Member |
Jenny Beth Martin Chairman Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund |
| The Honorable Jim DeMint Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013) |
Ed Corrigan Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute |
| Thomas E. McClusky Principal Greenlight Strategies, LLC |
Terry Schilling President American Principles Project |
| Alfred S. Regnery President Republic Book Publishers |
Myron Ebell Director, Center for Energy and Environment Competitive Enterprise Institute |
| The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. Chief Domestic Advisor President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988) |
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop White House Advisor President Ronald Reagan (1981-1985) |
| Cleta Mitchell, Esq. | Rachel A. Bovard Senior Director of Policy Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) |
| The Honorable Tony Perkins President Family Research Council |
Wesley Denton Chief Operating Officer Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) |
| Penny Y. Nance President & CEO Concerned Women for America |
The Honorable Russ Vought Director Office of Management and Budget (2020-2021) |
| Lori Roman President ACRU Action Fund |
Chad Connelly Founder and President Faith Wins |
| Noah Wall Executive Vice President FreedomWorks |
The Honorable David McIntosh U.S. House of Representatives Former Member, Indiana |
| Scott T. Parkinson | The Honorable Brooke Rollins President and CEO America First Policy Institute (AFPI) |
| Thomas Fitton President, Judicial Watch, Inc. President, Council for National Policy |
William L. Walton The Bill Walton Show Resolute Protector Foundation |
| Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.) Executive Vice President Family Research Council |
The Honorable James C. Miller III Budget Director for President Reagan (1985-1988) |
| The Honorable Briscoe Cain State Representative Texas House of Representatives |
The Honorable Donald J. Devine Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, President Ronald Reagan (1981-1985) , President Ronald Reagan The Fund for American Studies |
| Rod D. Martin Founder & CEO The Martin Organization, Inc. |
Guillermo J. Aragon Senior Partner Corbere Partners |
| Christina Murphy Lusk President The Martin Foundation |
Lourdes Cosio Campaign for the American Future |
| Sherri R. Martin Executive Vice President The Martin Organization, Inc. |
Haley E. Martin Past President The Martin Foundation |
| Karen England Capitol Resource Institute Capitol Resource Institute |
Tom DeWeese President American Policy Center |
| Ron Pearson Executive Director Conservative Victory Fund |
Jon Schweppe Director of Policy and Government Affairs American Principles Project |
| Seton Motley President Less Government |
Paavo Ensio Chairman Universal Minerals Group |
| C. Preston Noell III President Tradition, Family, Property, Inc. |
Kelly Kullberg Senior Advisor American Association of Evangelicals |
| Richard Wright Owner R & S LLC |
The Honorable Gary L. Bauer President American Values |
| Floyd Brown Founder The Western Journal |
Kielle C. Horton President The Lindsey Foundation |
| Mario Navarro da Costa Director, Washington Bureau Tradition, Family, Property |
The Honorable Diana Denman President The Reagan Legacy Forum |
| Ben Case | Robert Keith Fischer Meeting Coordinator Conservatives of Faith |
| Kevin Freeman Founder NSIC Institute |
Ralph A. Rebandt II Gubernatorial Candidate Ralph Rebandt for Michigan Governor |
| G. Eric Georgatos Executive Producer America Can We Talk? americacanwetalk.org |
Allen Hebert President and Chairman American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston |
| Sheryl Kaufman Board Member Americans for Limited Government |
Richard Manning President Americans for Limited Government |
| Robert Chambers Executive Vice President AFA Action |
Kay Daly President Coalition for a Fair Judiciary |
| Lee Beaman CEO Beaman Ventures |
Judson Phillips Founder Tea Party Nation |
| Joan Holt Lindsey President Lindsey Communications |
Jeremy Cerone Member Council for National Policy |
| Elaine Donnelly President Center for Military Readiness |
Craig Shirley Reagan Biographer Presidential Historian |
| Ambassador Henry F. Cooper Pres. Reagan’s Chief Defense and Space Negotiator Former SDI Director |
Nancy Schulze Founder, President RCW Speakers |
| The Honorable Mike Hill Former Member Florida State Representative |
Terrence Scanlon Retired Chairman and President Capital Research Center |
| Dr. Chris Hughes Founder & Chairman The Citizens for America Foundation |
Eunie Smith President Emeritus Eagle Forum |
| Tim Macy Chairman Gun Owners of America |
Dr. Allen Unruh Founder National Abstinence Clearinghouse |
| James L. Martin Founder/Chairman 60 Plus Association |
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis President 60 Plus Association |
| Jack Park Conservative Activist and Donor Law Offices of Jack Park |
All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only.
