HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) — An online court error has led to hundreds of texts sent by Central PA Congressman Scott Perry to be released, and they have shed more light on what he did in the days following the 2020 presidential election and his alleged role in trying to overturn the results.
The texts came from his cell phone that was seized by the FBI in August of 2022.
The Washington Post made the texts public on Wednesday after a District of Columbia Appeals court accidentally posted a lower court ruling on how much access prosecutors should have to his phone records.
The court has since re-sealed the case a short time later, making them unavailable to find among online recording keeping systems.
Congressman Perry had fought to keep prosecutors from accessing the phone. He spoke to CBS 21 a week after the seizure, and said that he did nothing wrong.
“There is nothing on there I’m concerned about when it comes to legality or morality,” Rep. Perry said in August 2022.
However, the texts show a wide breathed of message the Congressman sent in an alleged effort to keep then President Donald Trump in office.
They include messages to people like Jeffrey Clark, a former Department of Justice official who was almost elevated to acting Attorney General. Officials say Clark tried to use the DOJ to overturn the results for Trump.
Congressman Perry has been named as a key player who tried to help elevate. According to the documents, he sent dozens of texts to Clark.
“You are the man. I have confirmed it. God does what he does for a reason.”
Another text read, “POTUS is giving you a presidential security clearance.”
Clark has been charged as a co-defendant in the election subversion case in Georgia.
The documents also showed correspondence Congressman Perry had with Pennsylvania state legislators.
He sent messages to York County Representatives Dawn Keefer, Mike Jones, and Seth Grove. As well as State Senators Kristin Phillips-Hill and Doug Mastriano.
According to the documents, the messages included topics like how to plan and execute a proposed legislative audit and how to obtain voting machine data.
The documents also showed that Perry was part of a resolution introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that declared the election results to “be in dispute” in November 2020. He also urged members to send a letter to then Vice President Mike Pence asking him to “weigh the validity of purported Electors and Electoral votes representing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Over the past three years Congressman Perry has been consistent with CBS 21 on why he challenged the 2020 election results.
“I think you have to be sensitive too, appropriately, to questions about election integrity and what happened in Pennsylvania particularly with the Secretary of State and the courts changing the laws unilaterally,” said Congressman Perry in June of 2021.
The Congressman’s attorney spoke to CNN and Politico about the release of the texts and the documents, and called it “unfortunate.”
“The communications reflect his (Perry’s) efforts to understand real-time information about the 2020 election. They were confidential and intended to address critical business before Congress in service of his constituents.”
CBS 21 has also reached out to the Congressman’s attorney John Rowley for a statement but have not heard back.
A federal appeals court is still looking at how much access prosecutors should have to Congressman Perry’s phone as part of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigation into the 2020 election.
No timetable has been released on that ruling.
View original post here.
By Tyler Jeski,
Photo credit: Associated Press
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