Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Ex-Trump aide sues to keep phone records out of Jan. 6 committee’s grip

Stephen Miller, who was senior adviser to the former president, is the latest target of a subpoena from the House Select Committee to fire back in court.

WASHINGTON (CN) — Former Trump aide Stephen Miller brought a federal complaint Wednesday to block a subpoena for the release of his phone records to the House Select Committee investigating last year's riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“It is no secret that the Select Committee includes political adversaries of former President Donald J. Trump and, in the absence of a legitimate purpose, compelling the production of Mr. Miller's records may improperly disclose information to persons who are interested in merely making partisan points or harassing Mr. Miller,” says the complaint, brought by attorneys for Miller at JPRowley Law and the firm McGlinchey Stafford, both in Washington.

Miller accuses the committee and its chairman, Represenative Bennie G. Thompson, of “misusing their authority to investigate political adversaries, painting their opposition with a broad brush as insurrectionists and domestic terrorists.”

The 47-page suit comes after T-Mobile notified Miller that it plans, by Friday, to comply with a subpoena the committee sent it for his phone records. 

Miller, who has also been called by investigators to testify, is the latest among several people trying to stop the committee’s subpoenas in court. 

Unless the subpoena is blocked by a judge, the committee would have access to subscriber information and all phone calls and text messages from the phone number assigned to Miller between Nov. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2021. 

During that time frame, Miller argues he was using his phone for constitutionally protected business and personal reasons, including having “sensitive” communications with medical professionals regarding his wife and newborn daughter.

“These medical consultations involved sensitive, private matters that are entirely irrelevant to the work of the Select Committee,” the complaint states.

And because Miller is part of a family phone plan, he argues “it is possible that T-Mobile may respond to the subpoena by producing data for other numbers assigned to the Family Plan Account.”

The “overly broad” subpoena, he said, is “an “intrusive and unjustified” attempt to violate their privacy rights.

Miller wants a judge to quash the subpoena and issue an injunction barring the defendants from imposing sanctions on T-Mobile for noncompliance. 

Follow @EmilyZantowNews
Categories / Civil Rights, Government, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...