A conservative non-profit group called the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is urging Capitol Hill staffers to avoid dealing with lobbyists and lawyers who worked on the January 6 Committee.
As Politico reported last week, many staff members from the committee have found work as lobbyists, or as lawyers representing Democrats who may be targeted by Republican-led House oversight investigations.
AFF president and founder Thomas Jones sent a memo to hundreds of congressional staffers, according to Politico, urging them “to fight back against the swamp.” Several individuals were named, Politico reported:
Among those listed on the memo include Casey Lucier, former investigative counsel for the committee, who was hired at McGuireWoods, a firm that represents Hertz Global, Perdue Foods, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and others. Other names listed were Kevin Elliker, another former investigative counsel, who was hired by Hunton Andrews Kurth. That firm represents Koch Companies Public Sector, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, and Southern Company Services. Former committee staffers Marcus Childress, Heather Connelly, and Michelle Kallen had all been hired by Jenner & Block, the email noted, which represents T-Mobile and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Politico describes the AAF memo as “political retribution for those staffers who helped unearth extraordinary evidence of Donald Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election.”
However, there has also been a great deal of criticism of the methods and tactics used by the January 6 committee, a one-sided and partisan inquiry run by Democrats that did away with traditional due process.
The committee issued subpoenas that went far beyond anything having to do with the Capitol riot, and which sought a vast trove of information from former members of the Trump administration and the 2020 Trump presidential campaign.
Subpoenas were issued to thousands of witnesses — without proper authority, critics said, given that the committee had no ranking member of the minority after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected two nominees by then-House Minority Leader (now Speaker) Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Under the threat of prosecution, witnesses were interviewed behind closed doors before a completely one-sided panel.
The leadership of the committee then selectively released portions of testimony — often twisting what was actually said. Reputations were ruined as the committee gathered intelligence on the Republican opposition.
Beyond political retribution, there is also a desire among some conservatives to deter Democrats — and fellow Republicans from using similar abuses of power in the future.
As for retribution, Democrats and left-wing groups have targeted former Trump campaign lawyers with state bar complaints designed to damage their reputations and to prevent them from returning to the practice of law.
In November 2020, a team of lawyers representing Trump in Pennsylvania quit under pressure, following efforts by left-leaning lawyers to encourage law firms not to represent the president in election challenges.
In the aftermath of the election, left-wing groups also began compiling lists of Trump administration staffers and supporters in the hope of blacklisting them for their roles in government and the Trump campaign.
The AAF is a 501(c)3 organization, meaning that it is a charitable non-profit organization. Though 501(c)3 groups have only limited ability to engage in politics, many leading left-wing groups are also 501(c)3 bodies.
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 new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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