House Republicans Send Letter To Yahoo! Addressed To CEO Marissa Mayer, Who Left Company in 2017

On Thursday, a group of 11 House Republicans sent letters to more than a dozen CEOs of various tech companies in an attempt to foil the House select committee’s investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot.

One of the letters was addressed to Marissa Mayer, whom the correspondence identified as the “President and Chief Executive Officer” of Yahoo! Inc. However, Mayer resigned from the company more than four years ago in June 2017. The company’s current CEO is Guru Gowrappan.

The 11 Republicans – Jim Banks, (IN), Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Mo Brooks (AL), Madison Cawthorn (NC), Matt Gaetz (FL), Louie Gohmert (TX), Paul Gosar (AZ), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Jody Hice (GA), Scott Perry (PA) – are seeking to prevent companies from cooperating with records requests and subpoenas as part of the select committee’s investigation.

“You are receiving this letter because news reports indicate that your company received a request to turn over your clients’ private and confidential data to Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives,” the letter begins.

The select committee, which is comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, is seeking phone records and other data of some Republican members of Congress in order to determine what, if any, role those lawmakers played in the riot on January 6.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA), whose data is being sought by the committee but who did not sign the letter, has been an outspoken critic of the committee and this tactic in particular. Last week he issued a threat to tech companies that cooperate with the select committee in which he stated they would be violating federal law, though he did not cite which law.

The letter from the 11 House Republicans claims that “Congress has no general power to inquire into private affairs and to compel disclosure in order to expose for the sake of exposure.” It states if the companies comply with congressional requests for the data in question, the undersigned “will pursue all legal remedies.”

In addition to Yahoo!, Biggs’s office said the letter was sent to Amazon, AOL, Apple, AT&T, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snap, T-Mobile, Twitter, U.S. Cellular Corporation, and Verizon.