Republican US Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, an ally of former President Donald Trump, sued the Justice Department in an attempt to block investigators from looking into the contents of his cellphone after it was seized this month. Perry, who helped spread Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread fraud, was vacationing with his family in New Jersey on August 9 when three FBI agents approached him with a search warrant the mobile. The Justice Department did not explain why it seized the device, but it appears to be related to its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters and efforts by his allies to overturn his election loss. 2020 by the President. Joe Biden. Perry’s actions are being investigated separately by the House Select Committee looking into the events of January 6. The lawmaker had been in contact with Trump White House officials in the weeks before the attack on Capitol Hill, in which rioters tried to prevent Congress from certifying the election results. During a select committee hearing in June, lawmakers heard testimony that Perry sought a pardon from Trump before leaving office. Perry refused to make such a request. In his lawsuit, made public late Tuesday after his Aug. 18 deposition in Washington federal court, Perry’s lawyers said he asked the Justice Department not to seek a second warrant to search the cellphone’s contents. The phone, lawyers said, contained information protected by what’s called the U.S. Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, a provision that can shield legislative activities from legal liability, as well as material covered by protections for attorney-client interactions and spousal communication. “Wool silk fabric. Perry asked the government not to seek a second search warrant that would have allowed them to access the data from his phone and offered to review the information and cooperate with providing the government with any information they requested as long as it did not violate the Speech and Discussion Clause,” they wrote. To support their proposition, they cited a case called United States v. Rayburn House Office Building, in which the federal appeals court in Washington laid down a method for how search warrants can be executed against members of Congress. This approach involves letting a lawmaker review the materials to eliminate what is protected and showing those records to the court for a final determination. In their emergency motion, Perry’s lawyers said Justice Department lawyers asked him to waive the privilege of the speech and debate clause. They also said prosecutors threatened to seek a second warrant to search the phone unless both sides reached an agreement to review the contents at the same time to eliminate material protected by the Speech and Debate Clause. A lawyer for Perry told Reuters the Justice Department said the congressman is not a target of its investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington is investigating a failed attempt by Trump allies to submit fake voter rolls — people chosen to officially cast a state’s electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College system — to the National Archives in a plan to subvert his election loss. The seizure of Perry’s cellphone came after federal agents executed similar search warrants on former top Justice Department official Jeffrey Clarke as well as John Eastman, a lawyer who wrote a memo outlining a proposal he said could be used by then-Vice President Mike Pence to prevent congressional election certification. Eastman, like Perry, has also filed a legal challenge to the Department of Justice’s seizure and search of his cell phone. Clarke tried to get then-Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen to send Georgia officials a letter falsely claiming that Trump’s Justice Department had uncovered fraud and urging them to call a special meeting to consider submitting an alternate voter roll that would support the Trump Biden won the state. After Rosen refused to send it, Clark tried to convince Trump to fire Rosen and install him as deputy attorney general. Trump ultimately refused to do so after top Justice Department officials threatened to resign in protest. The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today. This content appears as provided to The Globe by the original wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.
