In a classic “…and that would be bad how?” moment, Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward’s lawyer argued to a judge that turning over her phone to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Republican-led domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol could lead to the end of the Party organization in her state, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

“If the subpoena is not quashed, members of the AZGOP will be made to feel that every time they communicate with party leadership, they risk those communications disclosed to law enforcement followed by a knock on the door (or worse) from federal investigators,” Ward’s attorney Alexander Kolodin argued in a filing with U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa to try to dismiss the committee’s subpoena. “A stronger risk of associational chilling can scarcely be imagined.”

There is, of course, no such thing as “executive privilege” for the leaders of political parties.  And neither executive nor attorney-client privilege can be claimed when the communication concerns the undertaking of a criminal act.  And if you’re involved in a criminal plot to undermine the Constitution, I hope law enforcement can get your communications to protect the Constitution. 

The attorney for the House, however, noted in his response that the committee is only asking for communications from November 1, 2020–just before Election Day–to January 31, 2021–just after Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Douglas Letter, the House’s lawyer, noted that the committee is not looking for sensitive donor information.  Instead, the subpoena is looking only for the numbers to which Ward may have texted or called and when; they’re not looking for the contents of the communications.