众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡周二警告数十家通信公司不要与美国政府合作众议院特别委员会正在调查1月6日的国会大厦袭击事件，称如果共和党人夺回众议院，他们“不会忘记”。
他的抨击立即受到民主党人和道德专家的批评，他们指责他违反了众议院道德规则，并将这一声明比作篡改国会调查。
麦卡锡在推特上发布的一份声明中说，民主党人“试图强迫私营公司交出个人私人数据，这将使每个拥有电话或电脑的美国人成为民主党政客管理的监控州的目标”。
我对民主党要求公司违反联邦法律的声明:pic.twitter.com/XELEVNbx65
—凯文·麦卡锡(@共和党领袖)2021年8月31日
特设委员会周一要求35家公司保存记录这可能与其对国会大厦袭击的调查以及“试图拖延或干涉”2020年大选后的权力移交有关，这可能是更有针对性的传票迫使出示记录的前兆。
undefined1月6日，委员会要求公司保存共和党议员特朗普助手的电话记录
虽然这些要求没有提到任何个人的名字，但预计特别委员会将把调查重点放在1月6日左右与前总统唐纳德·特朗普就选举进行沟通的共和党议员，以及总统的亲密助手和家庭成员身上。
麦卡锡，他自己与特朗普的对话是在第二次弹劾审判中，可能会引起专家小组的调查。
无党派监督组织“公众公民”的游说者克雷格·霍尔曼(Craig Holman)对美国广播公司(ABC News)表示:“对于一名国会议员，尤其是在众议院担任领导职务的人来说，试图干预并阻止一个国会委员会试图履行其职责是非常不寻常的。
“通过要求任何人都不要参与特别委员会，他正在破坏国会本身的可信度，”他说，并暗示麦卡锡的言论违反了众议院规则第23条，该条要求议员“在任何时候都要以对众议院有信誉的方式行事。”
霍尔曼说，如果没有议员要求众议院道德委员会直接考虑此事，公众公民将考虑向独立的国会道德办公室——国会道德办公室——投诉麦卡锡。该办公室可以将其审查提交给道德小组，该小组可以决定是否进一步调查此事或制裁麦卡锡。
麦卡锡在声明中还指责民主党人要求公司违反联邦法律，尽管他的办公室没有回应美国广播公司新闻询问他提到的具体法规的问题。
霍尔曼说:“特选委员会要求这些公司保存这些记录，并要求如果委员会能够拿出足够的证据来证明这一行动，这些记录在传票下被移交，这并不违法。
作为对麦卡锡的回应，特别委员会说它要求公司“不要销毁记录”，这可能有助于它的调查，小组“不会被那些想粉饰或掩盖1月6日事件，或阻挠我们调查的人所吓倒。”
“对我来说，这是相当直接的恐吓和阻挠，”加州民主党众议员埃里克·斯威尔告诉美国广播公司新闻，他是一名前检察官，在1月6日袭击后担任弹劾经理。“这相当于国会的‘告密者被缝了针’他就是这么告诉他们的。"
来自田纳西州的前共和党国会议员扎克·万普(Zach Wamp)批评了他前同事的声明，他是政府改革倡导组织“第一问题改革派核心小组”的共同主席。
“这不符合他的最佳利益，也不是正确的做法，”Wamp在谈到麦卡锡时表示。“不知道谁和谁谈过话，什么时候谈过话，就不能进行调查。”
“有些共和党人可能有事情要隐瞒，但不是凯文·麦卡锡，”他说。
“如果这变成了一个真正广泛的要求，而不局限于个人，那就有第四修正案的担忧，”R街研究所治理项目主任乔纳森·比亚迪拉克告诉美国广播公司新闻。“但我认为这不是我们现在谈论的话题。”
比亚迪拉克指出，麦卡锡作为2013年众议院共和党最高计票人，是大多数众议院议员中反对限制国家安全局收集电话记录的修正案。
“当你把他现在说的话与他过去对国家安全局收集大量元数据表达的反对意见进行比较时，你真的很难不得出结论，这些言论是由党派担忧驱动的，而不是意识形态和原则上对政府获取私人数据的担忧，”Bydlak说。
其他共和党议员也对该小组的保护要求感到愤怒。
“我想不起来有任何关于美国总统的短信。当然，我会定期与其他国会议员沟通，”阿拉巴马州众议员莫·布鲁克斯(Mo Brooks)在白宫与其他共和党人一起策划如何破坏1月6日的选举计票。告诉Newsmax。
正在竞选参议员的布鲁克斯(Brooks)鼓励特朗普的支持者“开始记下名字，踢一脚**”，并在1月6日白宫外的集会上询问他们是否准备好“为美国而战”。他后来说，他不鼓励暴力。
布鲁克斯在接受Newsmax采访时表示:“我没有浏览过那些短信，但我认为，不管是哪一方，都有一些刻薄的词语用来描述我们国家正在发生的事情……但这些都是私人交流。
另外，共和党众议员利兹·切尼(Liz Cheney)周四被任命为特别委员会副主席，此举旨在进一步突显该小组在扩大调查时的两党合作。
D-Miss主席本尼·汤普森(Bennie Thompson)说:“众议员切尼一再表明，她致力于在1月6日左右得到答案，确保问责制，并尽一切努力保护美国人民的民主。他任命切尼担任这一角色，在一份声明中说。
宣布这一消息之际，切尼面临着将她驱逐出众议院共和党会议的另一次尝试:一群众议院自由核心小组成员要求共和党领导人修改党规，将切尼和伊利诺伊州共和党众议员亚当·金辛格(Adam Kinzinger)从众议院共和党会议中除名，因为他们与七名民主党人一起担任小组成员，因为大多数共和党人抵制该委员会。
“我们不会被威胁或试图阻挠所吓倒，我们不会休息，直到我们的任务完成，”切尼在周四宣布新头衔后的一份声明中说。
House GOP Leader McCarthy threatens companies that cooperate with Jan. 6 probe
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday warned dozens of communications companies against cooperating with theHouse select committee investigatingthe Jan. 6 Capitol attack, saying that Republicans "will not forget" it if they retake the House.
His broadside was immediately criticized by Democrats and ethics experts, who accused him of violating House ethics rules and likened the statement to tampering with the congressional investigation.
Democrats' "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 in a statement posted to Twitter.
My statement on Democrats asking companies to violate federal law:pic.twitter.com/XELEVNbx65
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader)August 31, 2021
The select committeeasked 35 companies on Monday to preserve recordsthat could be relevant to its investigation into the Capitol attack and "efforts to delay or interfere" with the transfer of power after the 2020 election, which could be a precursor to more targeted subpoenas compelling the production of records.
While the requests didn't mention any individuals by name, the select committee is expected to focus its inquiry on GOP lawmakers who communicated with former President Donald Trump on and around Jan. 6 regarding the election, along with the president's close aides and family members.
McCarthy, whose own conversations with Trump werehighlighted during the second impeachment trial,could be of interest to the panel's investigation.
"This is very unusual for a member of Congress, especially someone in a leadership role in the House, to try to intervene and prevent a congressional committee from trying to do its job," Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the nonpartisan watchdog group Public Citizen, told ABC News.
"By demanding that no one participate with the select committee, he is undermining the credibility of Congress itself," he said, suggesting that McCarthy's comments were in violation of House Rule 23, which requires members to "behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House."
Holman said Public Citizen would consider filing a complaint against McCarthy with the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent congressional ethics office, should no member ask the House Ethics Committee to consider the matter directly. That office could refer its review to the ethics panel, which could decide whether to investigate the matter further or sanction McCarthy.
In his statement, McCarthy also accused Democrats of asking companies to violate federal law, though his office did not respond to questions from ABC News asking for the specific statute he referenced.
"It's not illegal for the select committee to request that the companies preserve the records, and to demand that the records be turned over under subpoena if the committee can produce sufficient evidence to warrant that action," Holman said.
In response to McCarthy, the select committeesaidit had asked companies "not to destroy records" that could aid in its inquiry, and that the panel "won't be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6th, or obstruct our investigation."
"To me, that's pretty straight-up intimidation and obstruction," Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a former prosecutor who served as an impeachment manager after the Jan. 6 attack, told ABC News. "It's the congressional equivalent of 'snitches get stitches.' That's kind of what he's telling them."
Zach Wamp, a former GOP congressman from Tennessee who co-chairs the Reformers Caucus for Issue One, a government reform advocacy group, criticized his former colleague's statement.
"It's not in his best interest or the right thing to do," Wamp said of McCarthy. "You can't have an investigation without knowing who talked to who, and when."
"There are Republicans who may have things to hide, but it's not Kevin McCarthy," he said.
"If this turns into a really broad request not tied to individuals, there are Fourth Amendment concerns," Jonathan Bydlak, the director of the Governance Program at the R Street Institute, told ABC News. "But I don't think that's what we're talking about right now."
Bydlak noted that McCarthy, as the top House Republican vote counter in 2013, was among the majority of House members toopposean amendment restricting the National Security Agency's collection of phone records.
"When you compare what he's saying now to the opposition he's expressed in the past to NSA collection of bulk metadata, it's really hard to not come to the conclusion that these remarks are being driven by partisan concerns, and not ideological and principled concerns about government access to private data," Bydlak said.
Other Republican lawmakers have also bristled at the panel's preservation request.
"There weren't any text messages that I can recall with the President of the United States. Certainly, I communicate with other congressmen on a regular basis," Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Alabama, who strategized with other Republicans at the White House about how to derail the Jan. 6 electoral vote count,told Newsmax.
Brooks, who is running for Senate, encouraged Trump supporters to "start taking down names and kicking a**" and asked if they were ready to "fight for America" at a rally outside the White House on Jan. 6. He later said he was not encouraging violence.
"I haven't gone over those text messages but I assume on one side or the other there are some caustic words used to describe what is going on in our country … but those are private communications," Brooks told Newsmax.
Separately, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was named the vice-chair of the select committee on Thursday, a move meant to further highlight the panel’s bipartisan cooperation as it expands its investigation.
“Representative Cheney has demonstrated again and again her commitment to getting answers about January 6th, ensuring accountability, and doing whatever it takes to protect democracy for the American people,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who appointed Cheney to the role, said in a statement.
The announcement comes as Cheney faces another attempt to expel her from the House Republican conference: A group of House Freedom Caucus members have asked for GOP leaders to amend party rules to remove Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, from the House Republican conference for serving on the panel with seven Democrats as the majority of Republicans boycotted the committee.
“We will not be deterred by threats or attempted obstruction and we will not rest until our task is complete,” Cheney said in a statement Thursday after her new title was announced.
