A federal judge affirmed that the FBI could access nearly 1,700 records from the cell phone of Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Scott Perry, one of the House members who helped Trump’s attempt to undermine the legitimate outcome of the 2020 election, the Washington Post reports.
The amount is slightly less than the 9,000 a lower court had granted the FBI access to, but it reaffirms limits on communications members of Congress can claim was protected by the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution that shields some communications of members of Congress from criminal or civil action. Perry was allegedly integral to the effort to have Jeffrey Clark named Attorney General so he could issue a letter to state election officials casting doubt on the legitimacy of election tallies.
Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the DC District Court lowered the number of items after reviewing more than 2,100 individual messages, emails and other items on Perry’s phone to decide which ones fell outside the scope of official acts.