McCarthy threatens companies who comply
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday issued a veiled threat to companies that cooperate with the House select committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, warning that “a Republican majority will not forget.”
“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,” the Republican from Bakersfield said in a statement he posted to Twitter. “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 office would not provide a specific federal statute that a company would be in violation of if it complied with a duly empaneled congressional committee.
Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, tweeted a strong response, writing, “McCarthy just made the Congressional equivalent of a ‘Snitches Get Stitches’ threat. When people do that in our communities we hold them accountable. If we have no law and order we’ve lost everything.”
He went even further, saying: “I think we should consider a criminal referral for witness tampering/intimidation and obstruction of justice. I’ve prosecuted people for doing less on smaller scale cases.”
McCarthy’s threat to companies could run afoul of a House rule prohibiting members from acting in ways that discredit the House, according to ethics rules expert Norm Eisen.
Eisen, who was a Democratic adviser for the first Trump impeachment, said McCarthy’s threat could violate House Rule 23, which says members “shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”
“What can be more discreditable then the leader of the House minority openly shaking down companies to break the law and hide evidence from a legitimate investigation that may implicate him and his colleagues,” Eisen asked in a phone interview.
Eisen said McCarthy’s threat amounts to a “clear basis” for an ethics probe. If the House Ethics Committee takes up the matter, it could always refer it to the Justice Department. But that process is done in secret and often takes months, if not years, to complete.
Eisen also acknowledged that the speech and debate clause of the Constitution could help shield McCarthy from any attempt to prosecute him. He also said that the reach of the clause’s protections to lawmakers has not been fully tested in the courts.