AL.com: “The reported request by the special House committee looking into the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol for all of Rep. Mo Brooks’ phone and computer records over a 10-months period is ‘illegal and horrible,’ and would only possibly reveal ‘amusing’ emojis and GIFs sent by the congressman’s children, Brooks told AL.com Wednesday. Earlier this week, the House select committee investigating the insurrection sent requests to 35 media companies, asking them to preserve phone and computer records for a number of individuals, including Brooks, from April 2020 through Jan. 31, 2021. Others targeted include former President Donald Trump, members of Trump’s family, and several of Brook’s GOP colleagues in Congress. In a text exchange with AL.com, Brooks referred to the select committee as the ‘Witch Hunt Committee’ and said the records requests violate the 4th Amendment covering probable cause and search and seizure rights.”
“‘U.S. Supreme Court decisions quite clearly hold Witch Hunt Committee can’t do what they APPEAR [emphasis original] to be doing,’ Brooks said. ‘Time will tell what, in fact, they do. Clear violation of 4th Amendment established law if committee does what it appears to be doing.’ Brooks said the committee’s requests to tech companies urging them to hide from him and other targets which information, if any, they give to the committee is ‘illegal and horrible.’ The congressman said he is not sure if subpoenas have been sent out yet, but said if his records are given to the committee, it would only potentially reveal ‘entertaining’ information, adding that his beliefs about the 2020 election are already widely known. ‘My kids’ emojis & GIFs, in particular, might be amusing to some. But those things are private, on private phones & computers, on private servers, etc., and should, in a non-KGB/Gestapo country, remain private…,’ he said.”