Republican Rep. Scott Perry claims the FBI took his personal cellphone one day after raiding former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
‘I’m horrified — but not shocked — that the FBI, under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would grab a sitting Member of Congress’ phone,’ Perry said in a statement to Fox News on Tuesday.
My phone records my legislative and political activity, as well as personal/private conversations with my wife, family, constituents, and friends. This is none of the government’s concern.’ Perry claims that when he and his family were traveling earlier Tuesday, he was contacted by three FBI agents, who gave him a warrant and confiscated his iPhone. ‘They made no effort to contact my lawyer, who would have arranged for them to have my phone if that was their desire,’ he claimed.
Perry, a Trump supporter, is a founding member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and took over as its chairman at the start of the year, according to Fox News.
Perry’s phone was seized only one day after FBI investigators raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, in what Perry described as a ‘unnecessary and aggressive move.’
‘As with President Trump last night, the DOJ opted to take this unneeded and aggressive move rather than merely calling my counsel,’ he said.
‘These banana republic techniques should worry every citizen, particularly given the vote before Congress this week to employ 87,000 additional IRS officers to harass law-abiding citizens.’
According to the New York Times, the FBI raid on Monday was connected to Trump’s removal of confidential materials from the White House, not the Department of Justice’s inquiry into January 6.
‘Mar-a-Lago is presently under siege, invaded, and held by a big number of FBI officers,’ Trump stated.
‘This surprise raid on my house was not necessary or acceptable after working and cooperating with the proper Government authorities,’ Trump said.
Later, Trump released a campaign-style video warning that ‘we are a society that has armed its law enforcement against the opposition political party, like never before.’
Trump is considering a presidential candidacy in 2024.
According to Politico, Trumpworld is keeping an eye on the Republicans who are rallying to the ex-defense. president’s
‘They’re going to use this to mobilize their supporters, GOP leaders on Capitol Hill, and push for his political agenda and run for president in 2024,’ a source close to the former president told Politico.
‘If there was a 99 percent chance before, it’s now 100 percent.’ Going after the FBI is part of his platform,’ the person added of Trump’s White House aspirations.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, and House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik all issued angry remarks in response to the raid.
McCarthy advised Attorney General Merrick Garland to ‘preserve your records and clear your schedule’ through Twitter.
He wrote, ‘I’ve seen enough.’ ‘The Department of Justice has reached an unacceptably dangerous level of weaponized politicization.’ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the Republican Study Committee, the House’s largest conservative caucus, called the raid “rogue behavior of communist countries, NOT the United States of America!!!”
‘These are the kinds of things that happen in civil war-torn nations. ‘The political persecution MUST STOP!!!’ she wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, another key Republican Study Committee member, stated that the Department of Justice “must be held responsible.”
‘On top of all the other phony investigations against President Trump, Biden’s FBI recently invaded the home of the man most likely to be the Republican Presidential candidate in 2024. Stop using government agencies to divert attention away from your own failing agenda!’ stated Boebert.
‘The GOP must establish a Select Committee to examine the FBI’s politically motivated raid on Mar-a-Lago and ALL of our government’s bogus persecution of President Trump,’ she said. This cannot be postponed. We are rapidly transforming into a banana republic.’