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Messages from Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry's cell phone could include evidence about Donald Trump's alleged criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results after a judge allowed large numbers of them to be handed over to federal prosecutors, legal experts have said.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that more than 1,600 communications sent from Perry, including texts and emails, can be handed over the Special Counsel Jack Smith's office after rejecting the argument they fall under the U.S. Constitution's "speech or debate" clause. The clause states that members of Congress can't be questioned in criminal investigations on matters relating to their legislative duties.
Perry, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, had his phone seized by the FBI in August 2022 as part of the investigation into the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Perry is alleged to have been in frequent discussions with Trump as part of the plot to install Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark as attorney general to support the false claim the 2020 election was rigged in the final few weeks of Trump's presidency.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to four federal charges in relation to the investigation into the 2020 election and the events leading up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Experts suggest that the inquiry is still looking into other Republican figures who were part of the plot to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president.
Newsweek reached out to Perry's office via email for comment.
"Bad evening for Pennsylvania rep Scott Perry, who seems to have been neck deep in the Jeff Clark scheme to upend the election," former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman posted on X, formerly Twitter. "After successfully resisting for two years, he has been ordered to turn over the majority of texts from his phone. [Should] include some very incendiary texts."
Tristan Snell, a lawyer and former assistant attorney general for New York state, wrote: "Perry must hand over records—likely a slew of his texts—to DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith. Smith's investigation is moving to the House."
Boasberg's decision is largely in line with that of former Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell, who previously ruled that Perry must hand over 2,055 documents to Smith's office as they were not part of any official congressional inquiry or investigation and, therefore, not covered by the speech and debate clause.
The decision was appealed, resulting in Boasberg analyzing each of the communications from Perry's phone. The judge has now ordered Perry to disclose 1,659 of them to federal prosecutors but not the remaining 396.
Perry has not been charged with any crime as part of Smith's 2020 election probe.
The House select committee, which investigated the January 6 attack, named Perry as one of multiple Republican members of Congress who sought a pardon from Trump before the then-president left office in 2021. Perry denied seeking a pre-emptive pardon.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more