Judge rejects RNC bid to block Jan. 6 panel from obtaining email, fundraising data

A federal judge on Sunday night rejected the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) request to block a subpoena for Salesforce to hand over fundraising emails to the Jan. 6th committee.

The RNC sued the House panel on March 9th after it subpoenaed Salesforce, which tracks donor information for the committee. The RNC also sued Salesforce to block the vendor from handing over data to the committee. 

The committee requested data on fundraising emails from Novenber 3rd, 2020, to January. 6th, 2021 when the RNC was circulating emails claiming that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump. 

U.S. District judge Timothy Kelly denied the RNC’s claims that the Salesforce subpoena was “overbroad” and “seeks sensitive and proprietary data.” Kelly has temporarily barred Salesforce from releasing any documents until May 5th, giving the RNC time to appeal. 

RNC Chief Counsel Matt Raymer promised to do so in a statement on the ruling. “While the RNC strongly disagrees with this ruling, our lawsuit compelled Nany Pelosi’s January 6th Committee to dramatically narrow the subpoena’s scope. Nancy Pelosi’s attempted seizure of her political opponents campaign strategy cannot be allowed to stand, and we appreciate Judge Kelly continuing to temporarily block the subpoena,” he said. 

“[T]he Select Committee seeks reasonably relevant information from a narrow window during which the RNC sent emails promoting claims that the presidential election was fraudulent or stolen,” Kelly, a Trump appointee, wrote in the 53-page ruling.

Kelly rejected the RNC’s arguments for halting the subpoena, including its claims that the committee’s subpoena is overly broad, would expose sensitive information about donors and doesn’t have a valid legislative purpose.

“House Defendants are not seeking, and Salesforce is not producing, any disaggregated information about any of the RNC’s donors, volunteers, or email recipients, including any person’s personally identifiable information,” the judge wrote.

Kelly also pointed out that “Salesforce itself acknowledged” that there was a risk of more political violence after Jan. 6 and had taken action to keep the RNC from using its services “in any way that could lead to violence,” in the software firm’s words.

However, Kelly noted in his May 1 decision that the deadline for committee’s subpoena was the next day on May 2, and he ruled that the RNC would need more time to file an appeal if they chose to do so.

Kelly thus ordered an administrative injunction on the subpoena and gave the RNC until May 5 to appeal. The injunction will “dissolve automatically” if the organization doesn’t appeal, and the committee will receive the data from Salesforce, the judge ruled.