GOP Rep. Scott Perry says FBI agents seized his cell phone

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• GOP Rep. Scott Perry says FBI agents confiscated his cell phone while he was traveling with his family on Tuesday.
• The Pennsylvania Republican said the agents handed a warrant and requested the device.
• This happened one day after the FBI raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said the FBI has confiscated his cell phone.

“This morning, while traveling with my family, three FBI agents visited me and seized my cell phone,” Perry, an ally of former President Donald Trump, said in a statement.

Perry claimed the FBI agents “made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish.” 

As of publication, it’s not determined why the FBI confiscated Perry’s phone. 

The accusation comes just one day after the FBI conducted a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The raid was made as part of a probe into documents, including classified materials, that may not have been preserved as required by the Presidential Records Act.

At a public hearing in June, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol showed testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson who said that in a Dec. 2020 phone call, Perry expressed support for encouraging people to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The House committee alleged at its June 9 public hearing that Perry sought a pardon before Trump left the office for his involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Perry, who has denied the allegation, tweeted on June 10 that “the notion that I ever sought a Presidential pardon for myself or other Members of Congress is an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie.”

House Jan. 6 committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney said during the hearing on June 9 that Perry was involved in the effort to install Trump ally Jeffrey Clark, an environmental lawyer, as attorney general in the final weeks of the administration.

Trump wanted Clark to be the nation’s top law enforcement official so that he would be empowered to send a letter to Georgia and other states which would say, according to Cheney, that the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election” — even though it had found no such evidence. 

Source: NBC News