(ConservativeHub.com) – U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., declined Rep. Scott Perry’s bid to have over 2,000 messages shielded from the Department of Justice’s investigation relating to Donald Trump’s attempt to interfere with the 2020 presidential election results.
According to a report from POLITICO, the decision was reached on Dec. 28, but the court filings were unsealed on February 24, as she claimed that the case had “powerful public interest” which was more important than maintaining secrecy in this case.
Perry had previously bid to have the Department of Justice blocked from gaining access to 2,219 documents that were saved on his phone, which had been confiscated by the FBI last year during the 2020 election probe.
He has further argued that the records on his phone are part of his efforts regarding certain legislative decisions, including whether or not he should vote to challenge results from 2020. He added that the documents and messages shouldn’t be disclosed because of the “speech or debate clause” in the Constitution which protects lawmakers from answering to executive officials.
According to POLITICO, however, Howell argued that Perry’s “astonishing view” would essentially place Congressmembers above the law as they would never need to face consequences for their choices.
According to her order, Perry would need to hand over 2,055 of the documents that he had previously tried to withhold from the investigation, as well as all 960 of executive officials in his contact list. She determined that 161 items could be withheld, POLITICO reported.
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