• by Ray Schultz , March 16, 2022

Salesforce has found itself embroiled in a legal battle regarding the Congressional investigation of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Republican National Committee has filed a lawsuit, asking the court to squash a subpoena issued by the Select Committee seeking what it says is a range of data on Republican donors. 

The RNC uses the Salesforce Marketing Cloud platform to support its electoral and fundraising activities, and did so during the period surrounding the 2020 Presidential Election and inauguration of President Biden.  

The filing asks the court to rule that the subpoena violates the RNC’s First Amendment rights and the Stored Communications Act -- and that it is overly broad and lacks Congressional authorization.  

The suit, which is on file with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also names Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Bennie G. Thompson (chair of the Select Committee), Rep. Elizabeth Cheney (as vice chair of the committee) Rep. Adam B. Schiff, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin and other House members. The RNC announced on Tuesday that it had added Salesforce to the action.

The Select Committee subpoena was issued to Salesforce on February 23, setting March 9 as a deadline for producing the documents. Salesforce counsel said the firm would withhold the documents while the lawsuit filed on March 9 is pending.  

However, Salesforce later said it could not withhold documents, the complaint says. The deadline for document production was pushed to March 16, and the deadline for a deposition to March 23.  

The breadth of the Select Committee’s request to Salesforce is “astounding,” the RNC filing argues. 

“If forced to comply, Salesforce would disclose records regarding whether and how individual RNC supporters have responded to emails (including at what time they opened such emails), reacted to specific political messaging, signed any RNC petitions, completed any surveys on specific issues and policy proposals, or responded to specific fundraising appeals,” the RNC states. 

This disclosure would also include “information regarding individual voting habits, involvement in various coalition groups and even what political merchandise they liked best.” 

While the RNC has named Salesforce as a defendant, it “does not believe that Salesforce has breached any contractual or other duty to the RNC,” the suit says.

Salesforce had not responded to a request for comment at deadline.