OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem blasted members of the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 Committee after her Social Security number, along those of her family members, were allegedly leaked to the public. In a tweet, the GOP governor appeared to suggest she would take legal action against members.
“My lawyers have asked the @WhiteHouse, the @USNatArchives, and @BennieGThompson which of them is responsible for leaking the Social Security Numbers of me, my husband, my 3 kids, and my son-in-law,” she tweeted on Friday, in a post that included images of a letter her attorneys have sent to the aforementioned parties. “What specific measures and remedies will be taken to protect our identities?”
My lawyers have asked the @WhiteHouse, the @USNatArchives, and @BennieGThompson which of them is responsible for leaking the Social Security Numbers of me, my husband, my 3 kids, and my son-in-law.
What specific measures and remedies will be taken to protect our identities? pic.twitter.com/HWBu5ukWPP
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) January 6, 2023
The Washington Times reported the leak:
The recently sunsetted House Jan. 6 committee released Trump White House visitor logs from December 2020 containing nearly 2,000 unreacted Social Security numbers.
At least three of the numbers, inadvertently leaked as part of the hoard of documents the committee posted online in recent weeks, belonged to members of Trump’s cabinet others. Several Republican governors and floods of other Trump allies have been caught up in the privacy breach.
House Jan. 6 Committee leaks thousands of Trump allies’ Social Security numbers: Report – https://t.co/Ghgqw9IuJb
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) January 7, 2023
The document was taken down on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the leak, but the Government Publishing Office, which was responsible for posting the file online, does not appear to have notified the individuals whose private information was leaked.
Attorneys for Noem demanded to know “how the breach of privacy occurred, who was responsible, what steps each of you has taken to remedy the breach, and what specific measures and remedies will be taken to protect Governor Noem and her family in light of the public dissemination of their private information and the heightened risk for identity theft and any other future privacy violations.”
Ian Fury, a spokesman for the governor, said, “To my knowledge, we were not notified. The governor was not notified” of the leak, Slay News noted.
Former Trump Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, whose information was also leaked, told the Washington Post: “Whether it was a careless and sloppy handling of records or a deliberate disregard of decorum, either scenario is a perfunctory and callous display of government and a frightening reminder of the current state in Washington. … President Reagan was a savant indeed — the nine most frightening words to hear are ‘I am from the government and here to help.’”
The committee was stacked with Democrats hand-picked by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She took the unprecedented step of refusing to seat five Republicans chosen by her opposite, then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who then declared that Republicans would simply refuse to take part in the committee’s partisan probe. Two now-former Republican lawmakers — anti-Trump Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — were seated by Pelosi. Cheney was co-chair of the committee.
The committee, as a parting shot before being disbanded, released a lengthy report squarely blaming the Jan. 6 riot on former President Donald Trump.
He “lost the 2020 election and knew it, but he chose to try and stay in office through a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power,” committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said. “In the end, he summoned a mob to Washington and, knowing they were armed and angry, pointed them to the Capitol and told them to ‘fight like hell.’ There’s no doubt about this.”
“The findings specifically accuse Mr. Trump of disseminating false allegations of election fraud related to the 2020 presidential election, pressuring state and local election officials in the wake of the election, summoning his supporters to Washington on Jan. 6 and inciting violence by his supporters,” the Washington Times added.
