The legal battle over Rep. Scott Perry’s (R-Pa.) phone calls has become clear.
In a December 51-page decision that was unsealed on Friday, US District Court Chief Beryl Howell announced Perry had asked to protect 2,219 files from the January 6 committee investigating former President Donald Trump – and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“The strong public interest in accessing these court records cannot be underestimated,” Howell wrote in a memorandum on Friday.
Perry’s phone was intercepted a day after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home to recover classified documents in August. Perry claims he only holds personal or work-related files that are “none of … government business,” which Howell has denied.
Perry, a close ally of the former president, sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prevent the phone from being accessed. However, he quietly dropped the suit in October while continuing to insist that the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause should protect him from investigators.
While Howell allowed Perry to keep 161 records from investigators, he ordered the release of 2,055 files, including 960 contacts with the executive branch.
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“What is clear is that the clause does not protect Rep. Perry from…political discussions…with state legislators about prior hearings. those people regarding possible fraud or electoral conduct equal can challenge the election results in Pennsylvania,” he wrote in December.
The Washington, DC, judge added a “stunning view of the scope of legislative privilege” Perry claimed to be protected by “will actually be cloaked as a Member of Congress with a dual non-disclosure and immunity shield for almost all of his activities.”
Not only did Perry serve as a liaison between the White House and DOJ official Jeffrey Clark in the days after Trump’s election defeat, but he was also named as one of at least five Republicans seeking a preemptive pardon before the end of Trump’s term.
Perry was previously subpoenaed to testify by the committee Jan. 6 but declined to show.
Howell’s ruling that the investigation warrants files is still being discussed by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Politico.
Whether or not he rejects Perry’s argument that the “speech or debate” clause should protect communications, he should ask a full bench of DC Circuit Court judges — or the Supreme Court itself — to reconsider.