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WASHINGTON — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has threatened to retaliate against any company that complies with the congressional committee investigating the investigation. January 6 rebellion, after the panel asked dozens of companies to protect the phone and social media records of 11 far-right Congressmen trying to spoof the results of the 2020 election.

McCarthy’s warning was an escalation of his efforts to block a full account of the deadly attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob and his latest attempt to isolate the former president and Republican lawmakers from scrutiny of any ties to the United States. violence. It came after the GOP led the opposition to form an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the insurgency, then withdrew five Republican congressmen from the elected committee that the Democrats had formed on their own and boycotted the proceedings.

In the protection orders the special committee sent out to 35 tech firms this week, panel members included the names of hundreds of people whose records they might want to examine, including some of Donald J. Trump’s most ardent allies in Congress. people familiar with documents who are not authorized to speak about its content.

11 Republicans, Representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Louie Gohmert of Texas by Jody B. Hice. Jim Jordan from Georgia, Ohio and Scott Perry from Pennsylvania.

The requests for protection were accompanied by a statement saying that the committee was only “gathering facts, not claiming any wrongdoing”. But the inclusion of Republicans’ names, previously reported by CNNHe said the delegation plans to examine any role they may have played in fomenting the violence.

“These are the people who publicly supported January 6 and the people who participated in the January 6 riot,” Mississippi Democrat Representative Bennie G. Thompson said in an interview.

“We need to find out exactly what the levels of participation in this event were,” he said. “If you’ve helped raise money, given false information to people, served on a planning committee – whatever your role on Jan. 6, I think the public has a right to know.”

The board did not want records of Mr McCarthy, who said he had a tense phone call with Mr Trump as the mob besieged the Capitol, retained, but Mr Thompson said the name of the top Republican could be added yet.

Mr Thompson said Mr McCarthy’s protests were “typically someone who was involved or not involved in the incident on 6 January and did not want that information to be made public”.

On Tuesday, Mr. McCarthy said Republicans will “not forget” and “hold accountable” the tech companies that protect the records sought by the committee. His remarks came after Indiana Republican Representative Jim Banks, who described the panel’s tactics as “authoritarian”, and Mr Trump, who called it a “partisan fraud”, denounced the committee’s work.

Ms. Greene threatened Fox News that the telecommunications companies cooperating with the investigation would be “closed down”.

Mr McCarthy argued, without reference to any law, that it would be illegal for tech companies to cooperate with the investigation, even if Congressional investigations had previously obtained the phone records. He said that if his party took control of the Assembly, he would use his power to punish those who did.

“If these companies comply with the Democrats’ order to hand over private information, they are violating federal law and could lose their ability to operate in the United States,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “If corporations still choose to violate federal law, the Republican majority will not forget it and will side with the Americans to hold them fully accountable before the law.”

Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and committee member, said she was stunned by Mr McCarthy’s remarks, calling them similar to obstructing an investigation.

“He is making threats against people who cooperated with the Congressional investigation,” Mr. Raskin said. “This is an amazing turn of events. Why shouldn’t the minority leader of the House of Representatives be interested in our ability to get all the facts about the January 6 attack?”

Barbara L. McQuade, a former US attorney and University of Michigan law professor, described Mr. McCarthy’s claims as “baseless” and stated that the delegation did not request the content of any communications.

“It portrays the committee as being overbearing in order to protect its own political interests, which undermines Congress’s ability to do its job and the public’s trust in our government institutions,” he said.

Last week, the elite committee stepped up its work by taking three sweeping investigative steps: a registration request to seven federal agencies. in part by focusing on any ties Mr Trump had with the planning or execution of the attack.; A document requesting material from 15 social media companies about efforts to disrupt the election and domestic violence extremists who may have been involved; and record protection orders, including Republican representatives.

Among the 11 Republicans are lawmakers who spearheaded efforts to challenge the election result in Congress on January 6, and lawmakers who played at least a role in the “Stop Playing” effort to protest the results, including by encouraging nationwide rallies. In Washington, its participants attacked the Capitol.

Some lawmakers named in the setup continued to publicly spread election lies that inspired the uprising and to refer to the possibility of further violence. Mr. Cawthorn claimed that the wrong choice was made on Sunday. “fraudulent” and “stolen” Franklin told a crowd in NC that if future elections are not secured, this could lead to “bloodshed.”

The selection committee meets twice a week, even during Congress’ summer recess, as its members plan their next steps. Mr Thompson said two more hearings were held, one to dig deeper into the repression campaign, that Mr. .

“There is a concern in the committee that the executive branch is relying on state-elected officials to change the outcome of the election,” Mr Thompson said. “There are concerns that they may be identified with domestic terrorist organizations and encouraged to participate in and participate in the January 6 march and uprising.”

Last week, the board sought to communicate among senior Trump administration officials about attempts to place politically loyal personnel in senior positions prior to the attack; planning and funding of pro-Trump rallies on January 5 and 6; and other attempts to halt or slow the process of Mr. Trump’s handover of the presidency to Mr. Biden.

He requested recordings of communications between Ali Alexander, who announced the “Stop Playing” rallies with the White House, and Tom Van Flein, Mr. Gosar’s chief of staff.

Representative Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat and a committee member, said the requests were “broad” by design, as the panel sought to produce a “comprehensive report.” He said it could be expanded to include more members of Congress if evidence emerges that shows it’s necessary.

“We know there are members who attended the ‘Stop Playing’ rally; “We know there were members who were in direct contact with the president while the attack on the Capitol was going on,” he said. “There are a lot of members who have very relevant information.”

On Friday, the panel sent letters to 15 social media companies, including sites like the pro-Trump website theDonald.win, among which misinformation about election fraud has been spread, demanding any documents in their possession regarding their efforts to overthrow the election and any domestic violence. Extremists linked to the January 6 rally and attack.

The committee had already sought records on extremist groups and militias present in the Capitol that day, including QAnon, The Proud Boys, Stop the Steal, Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters. One person familiar with the committee’s discussions said its members intended to delve deeper into plans to coordinate among militia groups.

According to court documents, at least 10 suspected militiamen participated in extreme military training in Ohio, Florida, and North Carolina prior to the violation. Suspected domestic violence extremists also “coordinated efforts to bring tactical equipment to the event, possibly in anticipation of violence,” according to an April internal security analysis obtained by The New York Times through a public records request filed by the People’s Property group.

“There were, of course, rebel groups determined to use violence,” Raskin said. “If you listen to their post-Jan talk. 6, it’s all about how close they get and next time they carry a gun.”

The record protection request, submitted Monday, asked telecommunications companies to keep file information about cell tower locations, text messages and call logs, and information uploaded to cloud storage systems.

Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat and committee member, stressed that the request was “an investigation, not an accusation.”

“We’ll see what we find out,” he said. “It’s fair to say that there weren’t 10,000 people who showed up out of nowhere to attack Capitol Police officers, mutilate them, and threaten to kill the vice president and members of Congress just because they felt that way. There was a reason for it, it had a structure, and we need to uncover everything about it.”