Capitol riots: Legal expert says Kevin McCarthy violated ethics rules in threat to telecom companies

Many of the suspected Republicans are already railing against the subpoenas presented by the bipartisan House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection last January 6. Following the recent threat made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy against the subpoenas, a legal expert says McCarthy made a misstep by violating ethics rules.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen, who served as the special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, debunked the threats and claims made by McCarthy in response to the committee’s request to preserve records of several members of Congress that may be related to the insurrection. McCarthy warned the companies that if the GOP takes control of the House in 2022, the companies would be punished. McCarthy also claimed that the bipartisan panel committed a violation of federal law.

However, Eisen said that McCarthy’s statements against the move were not in violation of the law and that the companies would actually be violating the law if they refused to comply. Eisen added that McCarthy’s threats are possible obstructions of justice and congressional proceedings.

“It meets the elements of obstruction. It’s a threat. It’s an attempt to stop them through the threat, from turning over documents. It’s self-motivated, it’s corrupt, and McCarthy is worried about what may be in those records on him, and on members of his caucus. It’s always a challenge when you have legislative activity -- and not that he did this on his official Twitter account -- you have protection under the Constitution for legislators, the speech and debate clause, there will be a debate about that,” said Eisen.

Hundreds of the insurrectionists have already been arrested and detained by law enforcement officials, many of whom are awaiting trial or have already been sentenced. A judge on Wednesday blasted an insurrectionist for remaining unvaccinated for COVID-19 ahead of his in-person hearing.

According to NBC4 reporter Scott MacFarlane, a judge questioned insurrectionist Klete Keller if he was fully vaccinated, to which Keller said he was not. When asked why Keller explained that he had already contracted COVID-19 and therefore did not need to be vaccinated despite advice from doctors and other health professionals that getting vaccinated would give a person more protection from coronavirus than the antibodies that came from the infection.