GOP congressman sues to block DOJ from viewing contents of seized cell phone
After the 2020 presidential election, Rep. Scott Perry was among the Pennsylvania Republicans who promoted the Big Lie and encouraged efforts to throw out the election results in his state — and on January 6, 2021, Perry voted against certifying then-President-Elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory over then-President Donald Trump. On August 9, Perry reported that three FBI agents had taken his cell phone as part of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the post-election events of late 2020/early 2021. And now, according to Politico, he is suing to prevent DOJ investigators from viewing the phone’s contents.
“FBI agents seized Perry’s phone on August 9 and transported it to the custody of DOJ’s inspector general, which has helped lead the inquiry into the push by Trump and his allies to replace Department leadership as part of a broader drive to keep Trump in power,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports in an article published on August 24. “Investigators have cited Perry as a key participant in that effort given his help connecting Trump with Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ official whom Trump viewed as an ally in his push.”
Cheney continues, “But Perry indicated, in his recent filing, that DOJ has not yet accessed materials on his phone and is in the process of obtaining a second search warrant that would guide its review, including a process to screen out potentially privileged materials. Perry is objecting to that bid, demanding that the government be blocked from scouring his phone and that it return any data in its possession.”
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In Perry’s lawsuit, his attorneys, John Rowley and John Irving, argue that DOJ officials “should not be given carte blanche to root around in Rep. Perry’s phone data looking for evidence that they hope might further their investigation.”
“Perry indicated that the warrant to seize his cell phone was authorized by Magistrate Judge Susan Schwab in the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s federal court on August 2, a week before agents approached him while he was vacationing with family in New Jersey and took custody of the phone,” Cheney reports. “Perry indicated that after his phone was seized, he and his attorney conferred with DOJ about an alternative solution to litigation. One framework proposed by the Department would permit Perry’s attorneys and its investigators to jointly review Perry’s phone and hash out potential privilege issues together.”
Cheney adds, “But according to Perry, DOJ demanded that he waive his immunity under the Constitution’s speech and debate clause as part of the process, which Perry says he declined. Perry contends that the data on his phone includes material protected by attorney-client privilege, marital privilege and the constitutional provision that limits most legal action against members of Congress related to their official duties.”
Conservative Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who co-chairs the January 6 select committee, has alleged that Perry requested a presidential pardon from Trump following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building — an allegation Perry has vehemently denied. But on June 23, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the committee that Perry was among the lawmakers who contacted her to “inquire about preemptive pardons.”
