GOP’s Scott Perry becomes first legislator to be sought by January 6 panel

Scott Perry, a lawmaker in the United States House of Representatives and a member of the Republican party, has become the first sitting legislator to be approached by the January 6 committee in connection to the ongoing investigation of the Capitol insurrection.

Members of the United States Congress– including Perry– had met with former President Donald Trump before the violent incident to reportedly discuss a strategy to block the electoral certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden.

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Representative Bennie Thompson, the chairperson of the January 6 committee and a member of the Democratic party, said he had received evidence that Perry played “an important role” in efforts to install Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general, according to reports from Associated Press.

Thompson said that then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and then-acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue were the sources of the evidence.

Thompson, on behalf of the January 6 committee, wrote to Perry requesting a sit-down interview in connection to the investigation. Perry — who represents Pennsylvania’s 10th District in the House– had reportedly pushed the Department of Justice to reverse the results of the election.

The panel also asked for any documents and correspondence between Perry and Trump, his legal team or anyone involved in the planning of January 6 events.  

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The lawmaker was cited more than 50 times in a Senate Judiciary report released in October outlining how Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos and prompted top officials there and at the White House to threaten to resign.

Perry, who has continuously disputed the validity of President Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, has said he obliged Trump’s request for an introduction to Clark, then an assistant attorney general whom Perry knew from unrelated legislative matters. The three men went on to discuss their shared concerns about the election, Perry has said.