WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Scott Perry said his cell phone was seized Tuesday morning by FBI agents with a search warrant.
The circumstances surrounding the seizure were not immediately known. Perry, however, has been a figure in the congressional investigation into President Donald Trump’s actions before the January 6, 2021, Capitol uprising.
Former senior Justice Department officials have testified that Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, played “a major role” in Trump’s effort to impeach Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice official who was pushing the baseless claims. of Trump of voter fraud, as acting attorney general.
In a statement Tuesday, Perry said three officers visited him while he was traveling with his family Tuesday and “took my cell phone.” He called the action “banana republic tactics.”
“They made no attempt to contact my attorney, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their desire,” Perry said. “I am outraged, though not surprised, that the FBI, under Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would tap a member of Congress’ phone.”
The lawmaker, who represents Pennsylvania’s 10th district, was cited more than 50 times in a Senate Judiciary report released in October 2021 describing Trump’s effort to overturn his election defeat before Joe Biden brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos and pushed senior officials there. to the White House to threaten to resign.
Perry, who has continually disputed the validity of Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, has said he complied with Trump’s request to run with Clark, then a deputy attorney general whom Perry knew through unrelated legislative matters. The three men discussed their shared concerns about the election, Perry said.
The Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania or any other state, and senior Justice officials dismissed Perry’s claims.
The Senate report described a call Perry made to Acting Assistant Attorney General Rich Donoghue in December 2020 to say the department was not doing its job regarding the election. Perry encouraged Donoghue to enlist Clark’s help because he is “the kind of person who could really come in and do something about it,” the report said.
Perry has said his “official communications” with Justice Department officials were consistent with the law.
The Justice Department’s inspector general conducted a search in June of Clark’s home in Virginia.
Perry criticized the Justice Department’s decision to serve him with a warrant as an “unnecessary and aggressive action.”
“My phone contains information about my legislative and political activities and personal/private conversations with my wife, family, constituents and friends,” Perry said. None of this is the government’s business.”
Fox News Channel first reported the seizure of Scott’s cell phone.