Scott Perry Needs To Hand In Thousands Of Phone Records To Special Counsel, Judge Rules

FBI agents seized the Pennsylvania Republican's cell phone in August 2022 as part of a Justice Department investigation into efforts to undo the 2020 vote.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) to turn over close to 1,700 records from his personal cell phone to special counsel Jack Smith as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

In a 12-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said only 396 of 2,055 records in question from Perry’s phone were privileged under the Speech or Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, requiring Perry to hand in the rest.

“Perry must disclose to the government 1,659 of the 2,055 records still at issue,” Boasberg wrote.

Perry hasn’t decided whether to appeal Boasberg’s ruling, his lawyer told Politico Tuesday.

In August 2022, Perry announced the FBI had seized his personal cell phone while he was on vacation with his family, claiming that none of the information on the device “is the government’s business.” Agents created a forensic copy of the phone’s contents operating under a search warrant before returning it to the Republican congressman.