According to a Senate official, Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers subpoenaed by the FBI will “certainly comply” with the procedure unless certain privileges apply.
A number of members and senators of the GOP House of Representatives either received a federal subpoena or were visited by FBI agents at their offices in the Pennsylvania Capitol on Tuesday or Wednesday, PennLive reported, citing multiple anonymous sources.
It’s unclear which lawmakers were subpoenaed or how many, but the subpoenas are believed to be part of an investigation into Congressman Scott Perry and claims he attempted to use election officials to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election Report.
Speakers for Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania House and Senate did not confirm whether any of their caucus members were among those who received a subpoena.
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In a statement to PennLive, Jason Thompson, spokesman for the office of Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, said: “Federal subpoenas typically require confidentiality from the witnesses who are subpoenaed to avoid obstructing the ongoing investigation, so it would be inappropriate to comment.” whether members have received subpoenas or not.
“If our members are called as witnesses, they will certainly comply with requests for documents or information that are not covered by an applicable privilege,” Corman added. “We have no indication that any of our members is the target of an FBI investigation.”
Jason Gottesman, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, added that he “didn’t know” about an FBI presence in the Capitol or in Benninghoff’s office.
“To the extent that House members or associates may have been contacted by the FBI, we would not comment on a possible or ongoing investigation.”
Reports of several Pennsylvania lawmakers being subpoenaed came after Perry confiscated his phone from federal agents on Tuesday as part of the investigation to overturn the 2020 election results.
In a statement, Perry said federal agents did not attempt to contact his attorneys before taking his phone while comparing the move to the FBI raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort that took place on Monday.
“The DOJ decided to take this unnecessary and aggressive action instead of simply contacting my attorneys. These kinds of Banana Republic tactics should affect every citizen.”
The House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 has claimed Perry, along with several other GOP congressmen, asked Trump for a presidential pardon before stepping down from office over their role in trying to overturn the 2020 election. resigned, a claim Perry denies.
Perry is also said to have been the one who pushed for Jeffrey Clark, a little-known Justice Department official, to be installed as Attorney General to support claims that the election was rigged and to send letters alleging that that there had been voting irregularities in certain states.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Mark Meadows, also testified that she saw the then-White House chief of staff burn papers in his office after meeting Perry in the weeks following the 2020 election.
Perry was contacted for comment.
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