<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1660084648757,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d9c-d084-a3ff-2ffce5bc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1660084648757,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d9c-d084-a3ff-2ffce5bc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_60082979", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1072469"} }); ","_id":"00000182-84c1-dd2e-a7df-e5fb64a50000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video Embed
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a close ally of Donald Trump, says the FBI seized his cellphone just one day after the agency conducted a raid on the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
The congressman was traveling with his family on Tuesday when three FBI agents approached and served him with a warrant for his cellphone, Perry told the Washington Examiner in a statement. It’s not clear why the FBI confiscated his phone, but Perry denounced the move as a “banana republic tactic.”
DOJ AND FBI SILENT FOLLOWING RAID OF TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO HOME
“They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish. I’m outraged — though not surprised — that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would seize the phone of a sitting Member of Congress,” Perry said. “My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends. None of this is the government’s business.”
Scott Perry, R-Pa.
The FBI declined to comment on the matter. The Washington Examiner also contacted the Justice Department for comment.
Perry has been a staunch supporter of the former president since he left office, and he has promoted Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has pressed the Pennsylvania Republican to offer his testimony before lawmakers. Trump himself is a significant focus of that panel’s inquiry, and his actions in and around the 2020 election and Jan. 6 are reportedly a focus of the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation.
Perry, a retired Army officer and chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee in May after he refused to offer voluntary testimony to lawmakers. He spurned the subpoena, alongside several other Republicans. The Jan. 6 panel sought testimony from Perry because of his efforts to help Trump with overturning the 2020 election.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Federal agents took approximately 10 more boxes out of Mar-a-Lago on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal, which said this marked an escalation of the investigation into how classified documents ended up at the resort after Trump left office.
Trump and his allies decried the search as being a politically motivated act by the Biden administration. Former CIA official Philip Mudd downplayed FBI agents finding classified documents at the Florida resort, stressing during a CNN appearance: “There has to be the additional piece … and they have to do with stuff that the FBI can’t get someplace else.”
