By Perry Stein
Federal agents seized the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., while he was traveling with his family Tuesday, executing a court-authorized search warrant that a person familiar with the situation said was part of a criminal probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Perry, an ally of Donald Trump who played a key role in promoting the former president’s false claims of election fraud, wrote in a statement that the contents of his phone are not the “government’s business.”
Perry said federal law enforcement agents did not attempt to reach his attorneys before the seizure, but he wrote in his statement that they would have handed over his phone had they been contacted. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday evening.
The person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the phone was taken as part of a Justice Department investigation into the use of fake electors to try to overturn President Biden’s victory. Perry is the first member of Congress known to have his phone seized as part of that inquiry.
“My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends,” Perry wrote in the statement on Tuesday, comparing the situation with an FBI search on Monday of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. “As with President [Donald] Trump last night, DOJ chose this unnecessary and aggressive action instead of simply contacting my attorneys.”
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