LIVE AT 2:30 2-hour wildfire evacuation notice issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection has requested that telecommunications and social media companies preserve the personal communications of hundreds of people who may have somehow been connected to the attack. It's a sweeping public demand from Congress that is rare, if not unprecedented, in its breadth and could put the companies in a tricky position as they balance political and privacy interests.
The committee, which is just beginning its probe, did not ask the 35 companies to turn over the records -- yet. In letters Monday, the panel asked them to confidentially save the records as part of the investigation into the violent mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters who stormed the building that day and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
Republicans immediately criticized the request, which includes Trump himself, along with members of his family and several Republican lawmakers, according to a person familiar with the confidential request and who requested anonymity to discuss it.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who is hoping to become speaker of the House if his party wins the majority in the 2022 elections, directly threatened the companies, tweeting that "a Republican majority will not forget" if they turn over information.
A look at what the panel is asking for, why lawmakers want it and the potential legal issues surrounding the request:
The committee sent letters to the 35 companies Monday, part of its larger probe into what happened that day as the Trump supporters beat police, broke through windows and doors and sent lawmakers running for their lives. The letters request that the companies "preserve metadata, subscriber information, technical usage information, and content of communications for the listed individuals" from April 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021.
The request includes the "content of communications, including all emails, voice messages, text or SMS/MMS messages, videos, photographs, direct messages, address books, contact lists, and other files or other data communications."
The panel released the letters publicly but withheld the list of individuals, who Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said last week numbered in the "hundreds."
The companies that received the letters range from social media giants Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to telecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon to conservative and far-right platforms Parler, 4chan and theDonald.win.
The panel has also requested that 15 social media companies provide records about misinformation, foreign influence and domestic extremism on their platforms related to the 2020 election. But the requests to preserve personal communications raise unique questions about the relationship between the technology companies and Congress.
Democrats have said they will examine all aspects of the attack -- including what Trump was doing in the White House as it unfolded. Several Republican lawmakers talked to the president that day, and many of them have strongly supported his lies about widespread fraud in the election.
In the days immediately following the attack, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that some Republican lawmakers might have been connected to the far-right supporters who stormed the building or were involved in the planning. There is no evidence that's true, but Democrats have said that they will look into all possible leads.
In the letters, the committee wrote that "the inclusion of any individual name on the list should not be viewed as indicative of any wrongdoing by that person or others."
McCarthy issued a blistering statement on Twitter Tuesday evening, saying the Democrats' efforts "would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians."
He also said that if the companies turn over private information they "are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States."
It is unclear what federal law the companies would be violating and how they would be subject to losing their ability to operate. McCarthy's office did not respond to a request for comment.
If the committee does eventually ask for records, the decision on whether to comply, even partially, could be difficult for companies that want to cooperate but are also wary of turning over private communications of lawmakers to their political rivals. And because the request would be from Congress, and not law enforcement, the issue becomes more complicated.
Telecommunications and technology companies field requests all the time from law enforcement and the courts to turn over private information, and they often comply. But even though the committee has the power to subpoena, the calculation on whether to cooperate with Congress is often as much of a political question as it is a legal one. Democrats are in the majority, but Republicans could take over with a favorable election map in 2022. There are also regulatory and public relations factors. It's highly likely that the issue could be tied up in courts.
"It's as much about the law as it is about the optics," says G.S. Hans, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who specializes in First Amendment law and technology policy. He says the companies are likely "talking about this from the general counsel's office but also from their lobbying arms, because I think it's both things at once."
The sweeping preservation request from Congress, he says, is "a new situation" for many of them.
Most of the companies on the list contacted by The Associated Press did not respond or declined to comment on the request -- including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitch, Twitter and TikTok.
Two companies, Reddit and Facebook, sent short statements saying they will comply with the committee's requests.
------
Associated Press writers Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California; Tali Arbel in Phoenix; Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, Calif.; Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island; and Joseph Pisani in New York contributed to this report.
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.
A bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida overturned on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring about 40 other passengers, authorities said.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.