As the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election has unfolded, a wide variety of Republicans have had their phones confiscated by federal investigators. But on Capitol Hill, only one member of Congress has been subjected to the same treatment: Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, whose phone was seized by the FBI in August 2022.
The development was itself extraordinary, and as NBC News reported, the controversy is still unfolding.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., must disclose 1,659 documents to government investigators, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, finding that the communication records were not protected by the speech or debate clause of the Constitution. The court order is the latest twist in a Jan. 6-related investigation that has made its way through courts for months and entangled the Trump ally.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
Perry might not be the highest profile member of the House GOP conference, but when it comes to the party’s election scandal, it’s difficult to overstate how significant his role has been. Remember the infamous Dec. 21, 2020 White House meeting focused on the Republican scheme to overturn the last presidential election. Scott Perry was among the participants. Remember when the bipartisan Jan. 6 committee pointed to members who allegedly sought presidential pardons? Though he denied it, Perry was on that list, too.
Remember when Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Donald Trump talked with allies about going to the Capitol on Jan. 6? She said Perry was among the people the then-president talked to about this. Remember the allegations that then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows literally set fire to papers in his office after a meeting with a congressional Republican? The lawmaker in question was Perry.
Remember when the public learned of radical text messages Meadows received from Republican allies in the runup to Jan. 6, including one House member who pushed unusually bonkers conspiracy theories about votes being changed by “Italian satellites”? Perry was that member.
With all of this in mind, it was of great interest when the FBI seized the GOP congressman’s phone, though the move touched off a lengthy and complex legal fight in which Perry insisted that records on his phone could be shielded from investigators under the Constitution’s “speech or debate“ clause.
That had limited success. From the NBC News report:
A federal judge previously ruled that the majority of those records were not protected, and ordered Perry to disclose them. The Pennsylvania Republican appealed that decision. The appeals court largely upheld the judge’s order but ruled that speech or debate protection could apply in some circumstances that the lower court had rejected, requiring a re-review of the records from the district court.
This week, a judge concluded that 396 of Perry’s records could be shielded, but the far-right congressman had to turn over nearly 1,700 other records — including messages related to the election and post-election schemes.
And what, pray tell, might those records say? Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
