Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania is currently chairing the Liberal caucuses of the House of Representatives. Freedom His Caucus has a remarkable consistency when it comes to its leadership. So Mark Meadows got ahead of Perry. This means that his two successive chairmen of the Freedom Caucus were closely involved in Whiteshoe his end of an attempt to keep the former president* in office. Contrary to the expressed wishes of the United States. This is like White his collar equivalent to being Al Qaeda’s third man, except prosecutors come in, not Hellfire his missiles.
According to Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the selection committee on January 6, Perry was central to the plan to accompany the former president* to a mob on the Capitol. Meadows was seen burning documents shortly after meeting with Perry, telling him that Perry had sought her help in obtaining a pardon from the former president*.as Politico remind us:
Now the chairman of the Freedom Caucus helped coordinate Trump’s plan to replace DOJ leadership with a person likely to support his baseless efforts to pressure states to overturn the election results. Additionally, Perry was a frequent participant in strategy sessions and conference calls with Trump and other top advisers. Other issues related to the 2020 election.
So, understandably, the Justice Department is very concerned with Perry and, above all, his phone, especially what might be found as evidence on it. Thus began a secret tug-of-war between the DOJ and Perry that appeared to have been settled in favor of the former by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell late last year.
But legalization in this case will not last forever.Again, from Politico:
In a sealed order issued earlier this month, a three-judge panel temporarily blocked a lower court ruling granting prosecutors access to Perry’s correspondence. The Dec. 28 ruling by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell was the product of a secret, months-long legal battle by prosecutors who have been battling Pennsylvania Republican lawyers on the issue since August. The DOJ setback, reported here for the first time, is meant to be protected from public scrutiny, part of the strict secrecy governing the ongoing grand jury matter. The long-running clash was described to POLITICO by two people familiar with the process, who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity.
Inevitably at this point, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy involved himself and the Monkey House he presides over in these operations Friday. McCarthy supports Perry’s claims, and he argues that the DOJ has no rights over his correspondence. This is because the Constitution’s provisions on speech and debate apply. This provision protects members of Congress from external scrutiny of their speech in the performance of their professional duties.
After the article was first published on Monday, McCarthy spokesperson Mark Bednar confirmed that the House had entered a legal battle over Perry’s correspondence. We have long said we should protect the House of Representatives, and this action shows that the new leadership has made protecting House stocks a priority,” Bednar said.[…]Perry first challenged DOJ’s authority to access communications in an August public lawsuit filed shortly after his phone was seized. Perry would soon drop the lawsuit and have his records put on record. The status of prosecutor’s efforts to gain access remained unclear.
You may recall that Senator Lindsey Graham attempted this same evasion to avoid testifying before a special grand jury in Atlanta. Graham took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, but was beaten back in November. Perry says that if her attempts to protect herself go that far, she could be dispatched as well. For now, everything is on hold until her Feb. 23 hearing. The frank way of thinking about this is that it is, of course, absurd to claim that the speech and debate clause would protect evidence of collusion to overthrow the election, but it is frank. Line thinking went sideways in these minutes long ago.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently stupid americaand has been working as a journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
