Taylor Budowich, the spokesman for former President Donald Trump, sued the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack — and all of its members — on Friday after the committee subpoenaed his private financial records.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who holds ultimate authority over the committee, is also named among the defendants.
Budowich is the latest witness to sue the committee, accusing it of violating the Constitution and its own enabling House resolution. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued the committee earlier this month, arguing that it is trampling on executive privilege and the separation of powers, and pointing out that it failed to comply with H. Res. 503 by rejecting Republican nominees to the committee and issuing subpoenas without consulting the ranking minority member
In his lawsuit, Budowich notes that he had cooperated fully with the committee until December 23, when he received notice from his bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, that it would provide his records to the committee to meet a December 24 deadline. The committee, he says, refused to extend the deadline for compliance despite the holiday weekend. Moreover, Budowich had not even been given an opportunity to see the terms of the subpoena for his records, either by the bank or by the committee.
The lawsuit, filed by Budowich and his company, Conservative Strategies, in the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia, notes that the committee has held only one public hearing since its creation, holding numerous other private depositions instead. Budowich was subpoenaed by the committee, and cooperated with it, until its “deceptive tactics” led to an “ambush” that would force his personal private financial records to be released without an opportunity to defend himself.
Like Meadows, Budowich argues that the committee is not duly constituted, and violates the House enabling resolution. Budowich also argues that the committee serves no valid legislative purpose that would authorize its intrusive investigation. Congress does not have the power of law enforcement, which is the power the committee appears to be trying to exercise. Budowich argues further that the bank subpoena violates the Fourth Amendment and the Right to Financial Privacy Act, as well as the First Amendment, since it would chill political speech by warning conservatives their rights could be violated.
Politico notes that this is the first lawsuit against the committee and its subpoenas to fight the release of private bank records; Meadows’s lawsuit protests against the release of private phone records that have no direct link to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In a statement, Budowich said: “Democracy is under attack. However, not by the people who illegally entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but instead by a committee whose members walk its halls freely every day. … By circumventing my Constitutionally-protected rights, this Committee is proving only one thing: the Constitution only applies if your political party is in charge.”
The case, Budowich v. Pelosi, is filed as No. 1:21-cv-03366 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.