Capitol riot select committee will look at cell phone records of Republican members

The January 6th select committee in the House held the first hearing with police ahead of the August recess, and now that members are coming back to work, the committee is looking at the next steps.

CNN.com reported Monday that the committee will look at phone records of any members of Congress who may have been in contact with organizers of the violent riots

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) said that she witnessed "members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol ... a reconnaissance for the next day." She explained that she found it suspicious because the Capitol was closed due to COVID-19 and tours weren't happening.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) later echoed that claim by saying that he spoke to another member who also witnessed a tour that day.

In January, Sherrill joined with more than 30 other Democrats in authoring a letter requesting that the Capitol Police and the acting sergeants at arms, in both the House and Senate, investigate "suspicious behavior and access given to visitors to the Capitol Complex" on Jan. 5.

The CNN report said that the House intends to tell telecommunications companies to preserve documents. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the committee, said that he hopes to have subpoenas issued by the end of the month.

"While it remains unclear which members' records the committee is interested in, several Republican lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, have acknowledged speaking to then-President Donald Trump by phone on January 6," said the report.

Jordan was asked by two reporters about his conversations with Trump on Jan. 6 and stammered so much that questions were raised about him hiding something.

"We have quite an exhaustive list of people. I won't tell you who they are. But it's several hundred people that make up the list of individuals we plan to contact," said Thompson.

The CNN report also said that the Democrats used similar language Republicans used for their Benghazi investigation.

"It also appears that the Committee could have limitless resources. Though the group has yet to clarify how much it intends to spend, the flexible language dictating its funding mirrors the framework for the select committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi. That committee ended up spending close to $7 million over two years," the report explained.

Read the full report at CNN.com.