Posted on 01/25/2021 9:00:22 PM PST by lightman
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, often a lightning rod for so many, caught another bolt this weekend when he appeared as a central character in a series of New York Times reports about an 11th-hour effort by former President Donald Trump to weaponize the federal Department of Justice in his bid to invalidate President Joseph Biden Jr.’s election win.
A number of Perry’s political foes - all Democrats - have called in the several days since for Perry’s resignation from Congress.
And the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has promised its own inquiry into the matter, in which Perry is alleged to have introduced Trump to a senior attorney at Justice who, according to the Times, was more open than the department’s top leaders to pressing the president’s thus far unfounded claims that Biden’s win was a product of fraud.
Rep. Perry’s efforts to politicize the DOJ were a disgraceful continuation of efforts to undermine our elections and perpetuate the lies which fueled the mob attack on our Capitol. His support for overturning the 2020 election should disqualify him from serving in public office. — Mary Gay Scanlon (@marygayscanlon) January 25, 2021
But beyond the immediate public notoriety, it’s too early to know what long-term consequences are for Perry for being a participant in one of scores of Trump’s fantastic efforts to override results of an election in which more than 150 million Americans had just participated — an election that many officials maintain was the most accurate accounting of the peoples’ voice yet.
Perry himself released a statement about the controversy Monday, in which he defended his conversations with former President Trump and Clark, who was the acting head of the department’s civil division this fall, as appropriate discussions about the integrity of the election:
“Throughout the past four years, I worked with Assistant Attorney General Clark on various legislative matters. When President Trump asked if I would make an introduction, I obliged,” Perry said.
“My conversations with the President or the Assistant Attorney General, as they have been with all with whom I’ve engaged following the election, were a reiteration of the many concerns about the integrity of our elections, and that those allegations should at least be investigated to ease the minds of the voters that they had, indeed, participated in a free and fair election.”
Clark, likewise, has told The Times that all conversations he had were legally appropriate.
Lots of questions remain.
The Congressman has thus far declined requests from PennLive and other outlets for direct interviews on the subject, telling a PennLive reporter who sought him out Sunday he will answer constituents who have questions about the issue, but “I’m not answering you.” Perry went on to argue that he is consistently misrepresented by the press before shutting down the conversation.
Some of the public outrage at Perry seems to be conflated with his very public efforts to object to final certification of Pennsylvania’s presidential election results on the House floor, televised live on CSPAN and other news outlets on the night after the Capitol was retaken from pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6.
In interviews in the weeks since the Nov. 3 election, Perry repeatedly expressed frustration at the so-called “blue shift” that turned initial leads for Trump from in-person voting in Pennsylvania into a Biden win as mail-in ballots were counted over the subsequent days.
He has also - like many Republican colleagues - made arguments about election officials’ permitting local parties in some heavily-Democratic counties to “cure” mail-in ballots that might otherwise have been invalidated. The practice was permitted in a late guidance by Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, but not widely adopted statewide.
These and other issues have been raised in a series of court challenges by the Trump campaign and its allies, and to date none have passed muster in court.
Perry told PennLive earlier this month that, having had the chance to air his objections on the House floor, he is prepared to accept that Joe Biden would be sworn in as president. But through the fall, according to the Times’ reporting, the midstate lawmaker was one of a gradually shrinking poll of people who seemed to want to stay on Trump’s side.
According to the Times’ reporting, when Clark took the proposed Georgia letter he, Perry and Trump had discussed to Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in late December, Rosen refused to send it. That kicked off a further discussion about Trump replacing Rosen with Clark for the waning days of his administration. It’s not clear from the newspaper’s stories if Perry was involved in that discussion.
The one sure consequence that Perry is facing from the Clark-Trump controversy is the current public outrage. Several elected officials across the state have called for his immediate resignation, and others, including Gov. Tom Wolf, a Perry constituent, have said that the entire situation should be thoroughly investigated and Perry “held accountable.”
Rep. Perry's attempt to compromise our justice system is a disgrace.
For months, he's spread lies and placed his political ambitions above the will of voters and the democracy he swore to protect.
Pennsylvanians deserve better from their leaders. He must be held accountable. https://t.co/pPM10v2FOp — Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) January 25, 2021
It’s hard to see that pressure going away in the short term, as a second impeachment trial of Trump on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol looms. But it’s also way too early to tell where it could lead.
Internally, the House of Representatives can discipline its own members for various types of misconduct.
Those cases, which flow out of investigations by the U.S. House Ethics Committee, can result in a range of punishments from expulsion - very rare, and requiring a two-thirds majority - to formal reprimands, fines or a change in committee assignments. The latter punishments can be passed by majority vote.
Ethics Committee reviews are confidential, but sometimes can be sparked by referrals from other inquiries, such as that just launched by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Criminal charges, according to a lawyer familiar with federal criminal practice who spoke with PennLive, seem an unlikely fit at least based on the known facts.
That’s in part because the proposed Georgia letter was never sent, said the lawyer, who asked not to be identified because he’s not familiar with the specifics of the case. “It is very important that the scheme was never executed. Talking about potential criminal activity and even agreeing to it is not a crime without some sort of overt act. At the end of the day here, that is the key. It did not happen.”
The final consequence for Perry could come at the polls.
The Congressmen has won tight re-election races in a competitive district in both 2020 and 2018, when the state House district’s were reset by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court following a gerrymandering case.
If Perry chooses to seek re-election to a sixth term, he would stand before voters in 2022. All U.S. House districts will be reconfigured before that cycle, and if, as is currently projected, Pennsylvania loses one of its 18 seats, Perry’s district would grow, likely adding a few more highly-Republican precincts.
In a GOP primary, meanwhile, one Penn State analyst said Monday, Perry probably hasn’t done anything to hurt his brand.
“I can’t imagine this being a primary issue from another Republican,” Daniel Mallinson, a professor of public policy and administration at Penn State Harrisburg said during an appearance on WITF’s Smart Talk. “There’s still a lot of support for President Trump in the rural parts of the district.”
Scott Perry, R-PA
To read the local birdcage liners, the most hated man in Congress.
The Donks attempted (unsuccessfully) to gerrymander him out of his seat by removing solid red rural areas from his district while saddling him with deep blue cities.
He prevailed against an ELCA Lutheran Pastor in 2018 and against the now former PA Auditor General last year.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
IF the GOP ever gets power again - they should immediately expel any member that supported the BLM/AntiFa riots of 2020.
OMG... I cannot believe that someone tried to politicize the DOJ.
WeRe NoT PoLiTiCiZiNg ThE DoJ - WeRe UpHoLdInG ThE LaW
Rep. Scott Perry is one of the strongest advocates for persecuted Middle East Christians in the US Congress.
Investigating very likely criminal voter fraud = now a crime. Interesting how that works.
A quick check of the writer Mr. Thompson shows he has a wee bit of an agenda agenda evenn in this hit piece they admitted he did nothing wrong man pennlive continues their legacy of being stricly propaganda
Pennlive and the USA-Today affiliates in the PA midstate positively HATE Scott Perry.
Any words I could offer would give me a long “vacation”
“...the president’s thus far unfounded claims...”
That’s a new one. The author probably subcontracted this line to a linguistic gymnast.
Roger that.
FReepers have become the last bastion of accountability to the so-called “free press”.
Good work.
I saw that his long winded piece of anger never asked a single constituent for their opinion on the matter just he might get hurt at the polls even the guy at the end of the article said yeh this won’t hurt him lol
Wait for it——pennlive will do this Biden politicization story next-——/s.
=================READ ON==================
Hunter was on Burisma’s payroll when he requested meetings
with the Obama/Biden-era State Dept.....in particular, Antony Blinken
fox ^ | 11/24/2020 | Ronn Blitzer / FR Posted by BenLurkin
Biden Secy of State pick, Antony Blinken, has a long-standing relationship w/ Biden going back to their days in the Obama admin....
Obama/Biden-era State Dept emails reveal that during the Obama/Biden-era, Blinken made a connection with Biden’s surviving son....
the notorious parasite, Hunter Biden.
(NOTE Pres Trump has long claimed there was something improper about Hunter Biden doing business with a Ukrainian firm while Biden was Obama’s VP.)
Then-VP Joe Biden, had pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who had been investigating Burism, but Biden’s campaign finessed he issue......claimed it was due to concerns that the prosecutor had been corrupt.
Tony Blinken, Obama’s deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state saved the day. Blinken
sent a letter to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson agreeing to an interview.
The panel also secured a voluntary interview with Obama’s former special envoy for international energy, Amos Hochstein.
BIDEN’S SECY OF STATE PICK BLINKEN GETS HIS PAYOFF FOR SAVING HUNTER’S WELL-PAID ***
In other words, Scott Perry is an unquestioned patriot.
When the lying, gaslighting, propagandizing Stalinazi-Satanist media and their “selected” officials hate you, you’re on the side of God and Country.
“Lots of questions remain.”
Yeah, well any question about you being a hate-besotted crock of leftist propagandist mf’rs isn’t one of them.
Bolshevik BS
You may not criticize us, Comrade!
If we say it is true, it must be and you may not question it on pain of prosecution!
Badge of honor.
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