GOP Rep. won't recuse himself from investigating Jan. 6 probe that looked into him
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) on Sunday refused to commit to recusing himself from a potential House probe into the federal investigations of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, despite being a subject of the investigations himself.
Driving the news: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told the Jan. 6 select committee at the end of November to preserve its records, in an indication that Republicans planned to launch an investigation into the panel’s work.
The big picture: ABC's "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos recounted that Department of Justice officials investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot had seized Perry's cellphone and reviewed his emails.
- Asked by Stephanopoulos whether he had been called to appear before the federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6, Perry said he had not.
- Perry maintained that he would not "speculate on what might or might not happen in the future," when asked whether he would plead the Fifth if called to appear before the grand jury.
What he's saying: "Why should I be limited — why should anybody be limited just because someone has made an accusation?" Perry replied when asked by Stephanopoulos whether he would recuse himself from a potential House probe into the investigations given his involvement in the DOJ's own investigation.
- "Sure, we're going to investigate and we need to. We need to make sure that these agencies aren't running amok and aren’t out of control, which clearly they are," Perry added.
- Pressed further by Stephanopoulos on whether his involvement would present a conflict of interest, Perry replied: "Should everybody in Congress that disagrees with somebody be barred from doing the oversight and investigative powers that Congress has?"
- "I get accused of all kinds of things every single day, as does every member that serves in the public eye. But that doesn't stop you from doing your job. It is our duty and it is my duty," Perry said.
State of play: The Jan. 6 panel in December voted to refer Perry and McCarthy, as well as Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), to the House Ethics Committee for ignoring the panel's subpoenas.
- The panel had earlier revealed that Perry served as a go-between for DOJ official Jeffrey Clark — a vocal proponent of Trump's election fraud claims — and the White House.
- Perry was one of the members previously revealed by the committee to have reached out to the White House for a pardon after Jan. 6. A spokesperson for Perry had called the allegation a "soulless lie."