Can we talk about Kevin McCarthy promising revenge if Big Tech aids probe into January insurrection?
- Reference: 1630560671
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/02/republican_revenge_threat/
- Source link:
Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) warned "a Republican majority will not forget" if the corporations participate as asked in the probe, which is being [1]conducted by a Democratic-led House select committee.
That panel of lawmakers [2]asked 35 companies, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Signal, plus Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile US, to preserve their records of certain users' phone and computer activities between April 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.
[3]
Committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said the information may be needed "as part of its examination of the violent attack on the Capitol and the broader context of efforts to delay or interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election."
[4]
[5]
Five people died and many more were injured during an [6]insurrection in which Congress was ransacked on January 6.
In a letter to the telcos and internet giants on Monday, the committee named the individuals whose records it was interested in, though that list of people was not publicly released.
[7]
Some reports claimed the number of names may be in the hundreds and cover those who were potentially involved in disrupting the certification of Joe Biden's victory. Some claimed selected Republican congressfolk, as well as Donald Trump and some of his family, were on the list.
In response, on Tuesday, Rep McCarthy was blunt: if the mega-corps cooperate with the investigation, the Republicans may punish them if or when the political pendulum swings his party's way.
"Adam Schiff, Bennie Thompson and Nancy Pelosi's 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," he [8]claimed .
[9]
"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. 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."
McCarthy's threat didn't name the federal law that would be broken, and his office declined to comment further. Rep Ted Lieu (D-CA) suggested such a blatant threat to the committee might itself be illegal.
18 U.S. Code § 1505: “Whoever…by any threatening letter or communication…endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede…the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any…investigation is being had by either House…Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned…” [10]https://t.co/YlquEXKybd — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) [11]August 31, 2021
Rep McCarthy's name is not thought to be on the list of those being investigated, as far as has been reported. Fellow Republicans [12]report McCarthy was on the phone to President Trump on the day of the insurrection telling the one-time TV star to call off the rioters trying to break into his office, only to be told: "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."
[13]Who'd have thought the US senator who fist pumped Jan 6 insurrectionists would propose totally unworkable anti-Big Tech law?
[14]Big Tech has a big problem with Florida passing a law that protects politicians from web moderation
[15]Facebook Oversight Board upholds decision to ban Trump, asks FB to look at own 'potential contribution' to 'narrative of electoral fraud'
[16]US House Rep on cyber committees tweets Gmail password, PIN in Capitol riot lawsuit outrage
House Republicans have boycotted the Capitol riot investigation so far, and some have said that they will take legal action if they are ordered to testify before it.
Committee spokesman Tim Mulvey said the probe "won’t be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6, or obstruct our investigation," [17]according to the Washington Post.
"The select committee is investigating the violent attack on the Capitol and attempt to overturn the results of last year’s election. We’ve asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the American people." ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1110
[2] https://apnews.com/article/business-capitol-siege-258159f48ab54557ae780ee82a5adbec
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YTCg5ziGhmPLFCf@37Sy3AAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YTCg5ziGhmPLFCf@37Sy3AAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YTCg5ziGhmPLFCf@37Sy3AAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/06/us_congress_trump_stormed/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YTCg5ziGhmPLFCf@37Sy3AAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://twitter.com/GOPLeader/status/1432820807684739073
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YTCg5ziGhmPLFCf@37Sy3AAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://t.co/YlquEXKybd
[11] https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1432844902728093700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[12] https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/13/hawley_antitrust_bill/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/28/florida_law_social_media/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/05/facebook_oversight_board_upholds_decision_trump_ban/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/07/brooks_gmail_password/
[17] https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/jan-6-riot-mccarthy-trump-telecom-companies/2021/09/01/cad1753c-0b1d-11ec-9781-07796ffb56fe_story.html
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
As a non-resident non-citizen, surely that's a false equivalence?
You might be able to argue that at federal level the democrats might not be good by any reasonable definition of the term (on balance?), but they're not committing fucking treason ...
As long as you don't find them equally disgusting.
I hate it when people do this "they're all the same" mantra.
Broadly, perhaps.
But that allows the worst ones to escape unscathed, without special notice. And thus normalises their evil.
Yeah, the Demonrats are far worse...
Oh, you've got a funny name for them. That solidifies your point. Democracy isn't broken when you can ignore one side entirely and use a funny name.
How funny you are! Teehee! Chuckle as the senate burns, my American friend.
Let's rename the electorate while we're dawdling down the path to stupidity. Votey McVoteface
You utter pseud.
I've been watching this BS go on and on by many members of the Republican Party. The questions that no one has asked those leaders are "who are they protecting?" and "why are they fighting this?" Methinks the Republicans doth protest too much and they have much to fear even if it's just the wrath of Trump much less anything they may have done to enable the event of 1/6.
I too am sick of the politics here in the States. It used to be about issues, not personalities and news bites. Or perhaps before the Internet we didn't see the BS that went on?
Well, the true payback will be when the people they are enabling turn on them. Chump has already had a taste of this when he got booed for being mildly supportive of vaccines. These armed thugs don't care if you are a Republican or Democrat, all they see are "enemies" who dare to disagree with them.
Re: Lawmakers or lawbreakers?
> How any of them can demand to see the apparently private records of individuals is a pretty shocking state of affairs to me. I would imagine that it’s up to the legal system to start a case and prosecute and not corrupt and biased politicians to do this?
Wow, just wow.
Many countries, including the US, have the lawful ability for the legislature/government to form a 'board of enquiry' that has subpoena and sometimes warrant powers, often including the ability to find people who refuse to honour the subpoena/warrant with contempt, and levy fines, even jail until the subject of the summons follows it.
Re: Lawmakers or lawbreakers?
How any of them can demand to see the apparently private records of individuals is a pretty shocking state of affairs to me. I would imagine that it’s up to the legal system to start a case and prosecute and not corrupt and biased politicians to do this?
Congress committees have always had the power to subpoena both witnesses and evidence in pursuit of its role.
The idea that somehow private records are somewhat inviolate when investigating a potential crime is a strange one. There are many situations where legal authorities can request information held on private servers. For example if there was an investigation on child abuse, you would not expect that data stored on a private server would remain off limits?
At the end of the day the committee is requesting data in pursuance of understanding a criminal act, and as long as it follows its own procedures, it is legally allowed to do it
I also find it ironic that the same characters who have pushed for companies like apple and google to give backdoors to legal authorities are now crying foul when the same sort of requests are being asked about there own activities.
Re: reading the article / mixing up reality with expectations
They have not demanded. They are not seeing. Some/all of the records are not private.
They have asked some companies to preserve records in case it turns out they are evidence of a crime. Some/all of the records were generated with the expectation and desire (at the time) that they would become public. It is a bit late to now say "I want evidence of my crimes that I deliberately posted on the internet deleted."
i.e. he confesses there is evidence
So, he's admitting there IS evidence of their crime that a search would reveal. If there wasn't evidence of the crime, then there would be no evidence for "big tech' to reveal.
No shit Sherlock.
They shouldn't flinch, go investigate Trump's release of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar too, the Taliban leader and his fighters that killed so may American soldiers. It's pretty bad when Republicans see themselves more aligned with the Taliban than America.
Re: i.e. he confesses there is evidence
I fail to see what that has to do with this. That was a political long ball. They aren't aligned with the taliban, it was a means to an end. Trump started pulling out leaving Biden with absolutely no option but to fulfil it. The ensuing shitshow can then be blamed on Biden and Trump can run a campaign on how he brought the troops home. The reason they pulled is that after 20 years they realised what the Russians did. You aren't going to be able to built an oil pipeline and secure it and forget about drilling for oil in Afghanistan. All they succeeded in doing was creating a new generation of people that want to kill everyone in the west.
As for the republicans they are all for taking peoples civil liberties and spying on people when it doesn't effect them.
Re: i.e. he confesses there is evidence
It fits the September surprise pattern:
Remember September 2012? Benghazi. The terrorist attack on the US embassy in Libya, the September before the Presidential election that Obama was set to win, that the Republicans used so extensively to attempt to unseat Obama in their campaigning? Occams razor: which group benefitted from that terrorist attack? Republicans did.
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/kevin-mccarthy-credits-benghazi-committee-clinton-damage-msna693201
They even resurrected it for the next election, September 2015, with McCarthy making the mistake of admitting it:
"“Let me give you one example,” McCarthy said, citing his conservative credentials during an appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity Tuesday night. “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping."
September 11th 2020 before the latest election:, Pompeo meeting the Taliban leader Trump had released:
https://2017-2021.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-at-a-press-availability/index.html
https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1427185114652430343
The problem is, both groups want to take over the US and end its democracy. And their aims are aligned. McCarthy's gaff was to admit as much.
They need to go investigate the money flow and communications to not just ensure the Republicans aren't just 'passively' working with the terrorists, but like Iran-Contra, they aren't also organizing and funding those terrorists.
Re: i.e. he confesses there is evidence
The Taliban like guns, religion and pick up trucks. They're not so hot on women's rights. Their only real difference of opinion with US Republicans is around face covering.
Re: i.e. he confesses there is evidence
There's a reason they're called The Christian Taliban
Nice business you’ve got there. It would be a shame if it got damaged.
He’s just acting like a mafioso goon.
I like Americans. They’re funny!
Let me remember who started the largest gathering of personal data to "combat terror"....
.... when private companies let three letter agencies gather data in secrecy without oversight is fine, if the Congress investigates on a terrorist act is not fine?
It looks to me some Republicans are really scared they could be found having acted against their own country... and that's treason.
As a US citizen, I find democrats and republicans to be disgusting and the alternatives which I can't even name to be irrelevant jokes. We are so screwed.