• The House Jan. 6 commission had asked telecommunications companies to preserve Republicans’ messages.
• Greene claimed the firms would be “shut down” if they handed over data to the commission.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed Tuesday that any telecommunications company that complies with a request to hand over Republicans’ messages to the January 6 commission would be “shut down.”

The House commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the Capitol riot.

On August 27, the group asked social media companies to turn over phone, email and text records of numerous people connected to the events, including some members of Congress.

On Monday, the committee then asked 35 social media and telecommunications companies to “preserve” records from a list of Republicans in Congress, former President Donald Trump’s family, and Trump himself, for the investigation.

Several Republicans slammed those requests as a form of authoritarian overreach, a theme that dominated Greene’s appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Tuesday.

The discussion appeared to react to both requests. Although the committee has not publicly named the members of Congress included on the list, sources told CNN that several Republicans, including Greene, were included.

Fox News also reported that Greene’s phone records were being sought, even though no telecommunications company has yet been asked to hand anything over.

“If these telecommunications companies go along with this, they will be shut down. And that’s a promise,” Greene told host Tucker Carlson, without elaborating how that would be achieved.

—Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2021

The ultraconservative Georgia Republica has previously expressed support for the conspiracy theory movement QAnon, which had a presence at the January 6 riot. She has also suggested that the pro-Trump rioters that day were not actually Trump supporters. 

On Fox News, Greene said that the House commission was pursuing a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

“If members of Congress can have their personal cellphone data exposed … just to hurt us politically in the next election, then we are going into a dangerous place in this country,” she said.

Noting the 2022 midterm elections, in which the Democrats’ House majority hangs precariously, she said a prospective GOP majority “will take this very serious,” she warned telecommunications companies.

—Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2021

And when when host Tucker Carlson said that companies that hand over records should be shut down, she agreed, saying: “We will,” again without elaboration.

Earlier that day, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy issued a statement heavily criticizing the committee’s demands as being moves towards a “surveillance state” that violates federal law. 

—Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 31, 2021

McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for information about the specific law being broken. He has long resisted the makeup of the present committee, saying in July the GOP would launch its own investigation into the riot. 

The composition of the committee — selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — has long been a source of contention between the parties. In May, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered an earlier proposal for an equally weighted, bicameral commission that would have allowed each party to name its members. 

Following this, Pelosi pushed ahead with a select committee, which has been criticized by Republicans as overly political. She rejected two of McCarthy’s picks for the committee on the grounds that the members — Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks — had voted not to certify the results of the 2020 election. 

McCarthy then withdrew all five of his nominations, effectively withdrawing much GOP support for the effort. 

Fox News and Greene did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.