“Representative Perry has directed us to cooperate with the Justice Department in order to ensure that it gets the information it is entitled to, but to also protect information that it is not entitled to, including communications that are protected under the Speech and Debate Clause of the United States Constitution and communications with counsel,” Irving said.
Evidence points to the DOJ’s interest in Perry as not related to the FBI’s effort to reclaim presidential records that may have been improperly stowed at Trump’s private estate.
The Justice Department’s inspector general, whose office declined to comment, is taking the lead on the election subversion investigation. FBI agents acting on the inspector general’s behalf in June seized the phone of attorney John Eastman, who is also connected to that effort. A Perry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The seizure of Perry’s phone was related to the inspector general’s investigation, according to CNN.
Though dozens of GOP lawmakers have been referenced in the Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation as aiding or amplifying Trump’s attempt to cling to power, Perry’s involvement stood apart, making it all the more likely that this was the matter behind his cell phone seizure. Here are the various strands of evidence congressional investigators have revealed about Perry’s role to date.
Elevating Jeffrey Clark
Testimony released through the Senate Judiciary Committee and Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation shows Perry pushed for Jeffrey Clark — who, at the time, was a little-known Justice Department official — to helm the agency in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Trump’s allies saw Clark as more sympathetic to investigations of baseless claims of voter fraud, and Clark was preparing to tee up an official DOJ letter urging states to reconvene their legislatures and consider overturning the certified election results.
Investigators have shown that Perry helped introduce Clark to Trump and his allies. Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told lawmakers that Perry said in a meeting “something to the effect of ‘I think Jeff Clark is great, and I think he’s the kind of guy who could get in there and do something about this stuff.’ And this was coming on the heels of the president having mentioned Mr. Clark in the afternoon call earlier that day.”
Visitor records released by the select panel showed Perry brought Clark to the White House on Dec. 22, 2020, and helped introduce him to Trump.
And in texts released by the select panel, Perry expressed urgency to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to elevate Clark.
“Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going!” Perry wrote in a Dec. 26, 2020, text, adding later, “Mark, you should call Jeff.”
Trump came within an eyelash of dismissing DOJ’s leadership and installing Clark in the days before Jan. 6, relenting only when senior leaders in the White House and Justice Department threatened to resign en masse.
Encrypted messages with Meadows
In the same Dec. 26, 2020, text exchange, Perry said he’d sent Meadows a message using the encrypted messaging service called Signal and asked: “Did you call Jeff Clark?” It’s unclear if either man retained their Signal chats, though the National Archives has previously acknowledged Meadows may not have “properly” stored all of his records from his phone and email account.
The Jan. 6 select panel also received testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Meadows, that she heard that the chief of staff burned papers in his office after meeting in the White House with Perry, though the substance of what was in those papers are unclear.
Planning Trump’s Jan. 6 strategy
Perry also took part in a Dec. 21, 2020, meeting at the White House with lawmakers in the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, which Perry chairs, during which they discussed strategies to block or delay certification of Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6. They particularly focused on then-Vice President Mike Pence’s role presiding over the counting of electoral votes.
Hutchinson recalled White House lawyers being present and “pushing back on” plans floated by Perry and other Trump allies for Pence to reject Biden’s electors on Jan. 6 — with the goal being to kick the election back to state legislatures to appoint their own pro-Trump electors. White House lawyers didn’t think the plan was “legally sound,” Hutchinson testified.
Taking Trump to the Capitol on Jan. 6
Testimony from Hutchinson also revealed plans for Trump to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and Meadows and Perry discussing that proposal.
“I remember hearing a few different ideas discussed with — between Mark [Meadows] and Scott Perry, Mark and Rudy Giuliani,” Hutchinson told lawmakers. “I don’t know which conversations were elevated to the president. I don’t know what he personally wanted to do when he went up to the Capitol that day.”
Hutchinson similarly told the select committee that Perry had been supportive of floated plans to call on Trump supportersto march on the Capitol.
Pardon request
In the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Perry was one of a handful of GOP lawmakers who discussed the possibility of pardons from Trump, according to Hutchinson. None of them ultimately received pardons.
“Mr. Perry asked for a pardon, too,” Hutchinson told lawmakers, adding that he talked to her directly.
Fox News host Sean Hannity has hit out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and said he should be replaced as leader after the Republican appeared to warn that the GOP may not retake the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
Hannity criticized McConnell over his comments about “candidate quality” in crucial Senate races where the Kentucky Republican seemed to tamp down expectations that his party can win the chamber.
“Democrats are painting Republican Senate candidates running in upcoming elections and midterms as cruel and out of touch,” Hannity said on Friday. “Well, apparently Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is content to leave them out to dry and fend for themselves. Listen to these comments—very encouraging.”
Hannity played McConnell’s comments where he had said: “I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different— they’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”
The Fox News host responded to McConnell’s remarks by comparing Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman to Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, saying he’s to the left of Sanders.
Fetterman is the Democratic Senate candidate facing Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz and is leading Oz by more than 10 points, according to poll tracker FiveThirtyEight. Their analysis has also found that Democrats are slightly favored to win the Senate, while Republicans remain favored to win the House of Representatives.
“And yet you don’t hear Chuckie Schumer complaining about candidate quality in Pennsylvania,” Hannity said, referring to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“How about you get out there, Mitch, and fight for your team? What’s your agenda, Mitch, or would you rather just sit by and watch helplessly as Democrats lie to your face, pass another $500 billion green energy boondoggle next year?” the Fox News host said.
“Or is it maybe Mitch McConnell hates Donald Trump so much that he would probably rather see Trump-endorsed candidates lose because he thinks that might hurt Donald Trump?” Hannity said.
“His time as a leader needs to come to an end,” he added.
Oz has been endorsed by Trump along with other Republican Senate candidates in competitive races.
Newsweek has asked McConnell’s office for comment.
Trump and McConnell have been at odds since after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The former president called for McConnell to be replaced as GOP Senate leader and repeatedly referred to him as “old crow.”
McConnell has largely shrugged off the former president’s criticism and even joked about the “old crow” nickname, but if Republicans fail to retake the Senate, questions may arise again about McConnell’s leadership.
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