Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., has been ordered to disclose nearly 1,700 records in connection to a government investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI |
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Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ruled that Rep. Scott Perry must disclose nearly 1,700 communication documents to government agents investigating former President Donald Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
More than 2,000 communication documents were seized from the Pennsylvanian Republican's phone in August 2022 by the FBI, and Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia ruled Tuesday that 1,659 of them most be disclosed to investigators as they do not fall under the Constitution's speech or debate clause that shields members of Congress from law enforcement.
Boasberg's ruling states that of the more than 2,000 documents analyzed, all but 396 must be disclosed.
The phone was seized in the summer of 2022 under a search warrant. The FBI then sought a second search warrant from the court in order to review the contents copied from the device to further its investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Perry at the time had said he was traveling with his family when FBI agents took his phone.
"I'm outraged -- though not surprised -- that the FBI, under the direction of Merrick Garland's [Department of Justice], would seize the phone of a sitting member of Congress," he had said in a statement.
After the second warrant was issued, Perry argued before the court that the records were protected by the Speech or Debate Clause, with a judge ordering that all but 164 of the disputed communications must be handed over.
An appeals court largely agreed with the lower court's ruling but ordered another review of the documents, finding that some may be protected by the Constitution.
"Having now analyzed each of the 2,055 documents still at issue, the court will order Perry to disclose 1,659 of them, but not the 396 others," Boasberg said Tuesday.
Perry is a staunch ally of the former president and has been accused of being instrumental to efforts to overturn Joe Biden's election as the 46th president of the United States, which culminated with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt on Congress.
Specifically, Perry has been tied to alleged plans to replace then-Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in a last-ditch effort to prevent Trump from relinquishing the White House in the last weeks of his administration.
