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Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

How Scott Perry fits into the Senate Judiciary's 2020 election investigation

rep-scot-perry
AP
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Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., speaks during the House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the administration foreign policy priorities on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, in Washington. (Ting Shen/Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is hearing from former Justice Department leaders who knew about an effort by former President Donald Trump to use the DOJ to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. Recent testimony from the then-U.S. Attorney General connects a key player to mid-state Rep. Scott Perry(R-Cumberland/Dauphin/York).

So far, the Senate's hearings on this have been behind closed doors. But the New York Times reports former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen confirmed the basics of the plot: that President Trump wanted the DOJ to look into his baseless election fraud claims, and that Rosen blocked the effort.

Rosen also confirmed junior Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark was trying to find a way to get Georgia to throw out its certified result by falsely claiming the DOJ had found problems. Another DOJ official says Trump urged the agency to declare the election corrupt and "leave the rest" to him and GOP congressmen.

One of them, Perry, told reporters in January he introduced Clark to Trump, and had conversations with both men about investigating the former president's claims. But right now, it's unclear whether Perry will be called to testify about any of that. 

As part of our 2020 election accountability policy, we note Perry is among the 136 members of Congress who voted to object to Pennsylvania's certified 2020 election result, despite no evidence that would call it into question.