As the United States continues to deal with the aftermath of the January 6 rioting at the U.S. Capitol, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) has issued a demand for the far-right social media company known as Parler to hand over a slew of documents by February 22. Trump supporters used Parler to encourage violence and even “civil war” around the time of the Capitol rioting, and now, the information that Maloney is demanding includes details of all “individuals and entities with direct or indirect ownership interests” in the company, a “list of all all individuals and entities who have or had any control” over the company, records of any deals that Parler has with “any Russian individual or entity,” and more.
As Maloney noted in her letter, although Parler is currently apparently offline, after an initial drop by U.S. web hosting services the site “re-emerged on a Russian hosting service… which has ties to the Russian government and counts the Russian Ministry of Defense as one of its clients.” In addition, Parler “reportedly allowed Russian disinformation to flourish on its platform,” Maloney added.
Check out Maloney’s letter below:
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter demanding information related to Parler’s financing and potential ties to foreign entities. pic.twitter.com/jEGxEDEdY8
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) February 8, 2021
Last week, Buzzfeed News revealed that Parler actually offered the Trump Organization — ex-President Donald Trump’s family business — a 40 percent stake in the company if the now former commander-in-chief “posted exclusively” on the site.
Although Twitter and Facebook booted Trump from their platforms in January, the discussions between Parler and the Trump Organization apparently went on before that point, although Buzzfeed noted that the scope of Trump’s personal involvement in the talks wasn’t clear. Still, “legal experts said the discussions alone, which occurred while Trump was still in office, raise legal concerns with regards to anti-bribery laws,” Buzzfeed News added, suggesting that documents that Parler might turn over to the House Oversight Committee could provide a vantage point for examining the former president’s own company’s activities. Maloney’s list of demands included material relating to the proposed deal with the Trump Organization.
As Maloney noted, “numerous Parler users have been arrested and charged for their roles” in the Capitol rioting. This week, another aspect of the violence will be in focus when the Senate begins the overall second round of impeachment trial proceedings against Trump after the Democrat-led House impeached him on a charge of incitement of insurrection. Months of lies from Trump about the recent presidential election provided pretense that the rioters used.
