The House committee investigating the Capitol riot has now formally demanded information from Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), an ally in Congress of ex-President Donald Trump who, among other points of concern, was apparently involved with efforts to get then-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark put in place as acting Attorney General after last year’s presidential election. Unlike the individual serving in the position at the time, Clark was a supporter of Trump’s false claims about the election, and elevating him to a position of greater power could have allowed him to act according to the president’s wishes and use federal powers to advance those claims with fewer constraints.
BREAKING: The Jan 6 select committee has requested from REP SCOTT PERRY, its first move on a current member of Congress. No subpoena, but a rubicon has been crossed. Details TK w @nicholaswu12 https://t.co/5FDiLTlR7K
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 20, 2021
The committee did not subpoena Perry, but it is requesting a meeting with him. Addressing him this week, committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) wrote, in part, as follows:
‘We have received evidence from multiple witnesses that you had an important role in the efforts to install Mr. Clark as acting Attorney General. Acting Attorney General Rosen and acting Deputy Attorney General Donoghue have provided evidence regarding these issues, and we have received evidence that others who worked with Mr. Clark were aware of these plans. We are also aware that you had multiple text and other communications with President Trump’s former Chief of Staff regarding Mr. Clark—and we also have evidence indicating that in that time frame you sent communications to the former Chief of Staff using the encrypted Signal app.’
“We have received evidence from multiple witnesses that you had an important role in the efforts to install Mr. Clark as acting Attorney General.”https://t.co/ASTG5ZAt9Z
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) December 20, 2021
Thompson added that the riot investigation committee also possesses “information indicating that [Perry] communicated at various relevant times with the White House and others involved in other relevant topics, including regarding allegations that the Dominion voting machines had been corrupted.” Allegations about the supposed corruption of machines tied to Dominion Voting Systems helped build the cloud of conspiracy theories that Trump and his allies have cultivated surrounding last year’s presidential election results… but, like other claims, these self-confident proclamations of corruption by the ex-president and his allies proved to be nothing.
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump's lies lead to an attack on the US government.
On January 6, 2022, Donald Trump plans on pushing them again. https://t.co/6uxVbG2v07
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) December 21, 2021
The riot investigation committee is investigating a broad range of issues that connect to the Capitol violence, and thus, they’re hoping to speak with Perry. The election lies that he helped promote, after all, inspired the violence. As committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) put it recently, “January 6 was a really bad day — everything prior to that is the rot in the democracy, or the rot in self-governance that we have to correct so we don’t get another January 6… Nobody — member of Congress, former president — nobody in America is above the law.”
Reminder: Perry was elected in the same election on the same ballots and in the same state – PA – and under the same state laws he and Trump allies claim led to a fraudulent outcome. https://t.co/RixWur25cx
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 21, 2021
