Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) sued to block the Justice Department from obtaining the contents of his cell phone. The FBI seized his phone earlier this month reportedly in connection with a federal investigation into attempts by several allies of former President Trump to subvert the 2020 election results.
With the lawsuit Perry is attempting to block the government from searching his phone. He is also demanding that the DOJ return any data it may have acquired.
John Irving, one of Perry’s lawyers, told the New York Times that investigators reportedly returned Perry’s phone a day after the FBI seized it. Irving also reportedly said prosecutors told Perry that he is a witness, not a target of their inquiry.
A little squirmy and sweaty, this witness is.
“[F]ederal agents should not be given carte blanche to root around in Rep. Perry’s phone data looking for evidence that they hope might further their investigation,”
GOP black letter law: The government must obtain a conviction before it is allowed to search for evidence.
Totally not something a Totally Guilty Dude with total Consciousness of Guilt would ever do. Totally.
Wish it had been:
Perry told Fox News that federal agents approached him while he was traveling with his family with handcuffs.
He’s guarding his daughter’s TicToc videos: she hadn’t practiced her routines enough before she filmed them, so they might cause embarrassment.
Every GOP member of Congress wants to assert everything they do and say is protected by legislative immunity. They could sit in a steakhouse in Atlanta and slander the Falcons receivers coach and somehow it would relate to their congressional duties.
Those dick picks could be embarrassing, specially since they will need to zoom in the image to see the object.
The first sentence is confusing: if the phone has been returned, what is the purpose of a suit to prevent DOJ from reading its contents? Are they attempting to block turning the phone back over to DOJ or …?
The second sentence seems dubious: Based on what information is publicly available, Perry should be a target, no?
NB: Rep. Scott Perry’s ‘critical link’ to Jan. 6 insurrection prompted FBI seizure of his phone
Yesterday Scott Perry presided over a forum on preventing violence at Central PA churches in Harrisburg.
Can you imagine this POS wanting to prevent violence?
Perry claimed that the DOJ has not accessed records on his phone yet. He said that the department is working on obtaining a second search warrant that would inform its review, including a process to filter out potentially privileged content.
Wouldn’t a warrant to seize his phone include the ability to search the contents? Why would the DOJ need a second warrant to look at the data they pulled off it before returning the phone? Something fishy here…
You jest, but that was essentially the basis for Judge Neomi Rao’s dissenting opinion on whether congress is entitled to investigate the president, that they must already be investigating the president to justify a subpoena investigating the president.
Just comply dirtbag!
I read that as saying the DOJ accessed the phone records before handing it back, but they haven’t looked at the records yet.
I plead Poe’s Law.
I didn’t remember that it was Rao, but that opinion was the basis for my post.
Translation: “FBI, please take my phone again. MTG keeps calling and texting me no matter how many times I tell her not to use this number…”
Scott Perry’s phone was seized as part of the department of justice office of inspector general’s investigation into the attempted coup where Jeffy Clark was to be installed as acting attorney general. Scott Perry had nothing to do with that, as far as we know. Now, the Jan 6th stuff he thought he might need a pardon for… that would be a different investigation by a different department of DoJ.
Could it be they were only given specific ability to look at phone call history, but not text or email or doc contents? Something along those lines.
Authentic LOL.
Not if Clark or Meadows or TFG is The Target.
(nb: that’s also how they’re gonna get Perry to flip)
First warrant to seize the phone before any or all data can be wiped. Second warrant to inform the filter team that will exclude non-relevant and/or privileged material from evidence.