Update (Jan. 11, 2022): A few weeks after Representative Scott Perry (R-PA) denied a request to be interviewed by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) did the same over the weekend. In a letter to committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Rep. Jordan said he has “no relative information that would assist the select committee in advancing any legitimate legislative purpose.”
“Your attempt to pry into the deliberative process informing a member about legislative matters before the House is an outrageous abuse of the select committee’s authority,” Jordan wrote. “Democrats are using the select committee as a partisan cudgel against their political adversaries.”
Update (Dec. 22, 2021): A day after Representative Scott Perry (R-PA) denied a request to be interviewed by the House committee investigating January’s Capitol riots, the committee set its sights on Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Committee Chair Rep. Bernie Thompson (D-MS) said the committee wants Rep. Jordan to provide information on his communications with former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, as well as Trump’s efforts to challenge the result of the 2020 election.
“We would also like to ask you about any discussions involving the possibility of presidential pardons for individuals involved in any aspect of January 6th or the planning for January 6th,” Rep. Thompson wrote in a letter to Jordan. “When you were asked during a Rules Committee hearing on October 20, 2021, whether you would be willing to share with the Select Committee the information you have regarding January 6th and the events leading up to that day, you responded, ‘I’ve said all along, “I have nothing to hide.” I’ve been straightforward all along.’”
Original Story (Dec. 21, 2021): A day after the House committee investigating January’s Capitol riots set its sights on Representative Scott Perry (R-PA), he declined a request to sit down for an interview with the committee Tuesday. Rep. Perry also refused to turn over any documents and correspondence between Perry and Trump, his legal team or anyone involved in the planning of Jan. 6 events.
“I stand with immense respect for our Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Americans I represent who know that this entity is illegitimate, and not duly constituted under the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Perry tweeted Tuesday morning. In another tweet, he added, “I decline this entity’s request and will continue to fight the failures of the radical Left who desperately seek distraction from their abject failures of crushing inflation, a humiliating surrender in Afghanistan, and the horrendous crisis they created at our border.”
In a Monday letter to Perry, House committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said the committee had received evidence from multiple witnesses, including then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and then-acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, that Perry had “an important role” in efforts to install Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general. This includes “multiple text and other communications” with former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“Mr. Clark has informed us that he plans to invoke his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in anticipation of a deposition to be conducted by the Committee,” Rep. Thompson wrote. “When Mr. Clark decided to invoke his 5th Amendment rights, he understood that we planned to pose questions addressing his interactions with you, among a host of other topics.”
Perry’s refusal to comply with the House committee will test how far the committee is willing to go in its quest for information. Monday’s letter is the first time the panel has publicly released a request to a fellow member of Congress. In the letter, Thompson said that while the committee “has tremendous respect for the prerogatives of Congress and the privacy of its Members,” it also has “a solemn responsibility to investigate fully all of these facts and circumstances.”
