Scott Perry, a Republican congressman from central Pennsylvania, enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from college, flew 44 missions during the Iraqi War, and later retired as a brigadier general in the Army Reserves.
In 2012, he was first elected to the U.S. Congress.
This means Perry has at least twice taken an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
https://perry.house.gov/about-scott/default.aspx
In addition, one might think that Perry would take that oath seriously.
There’s little evidence of that.
After the U.S. people elected Joe Biden as its president in November 2020, Perry — in a clear and blatant violation of his oath of office — went to absurd lengths to overturn the results of the election to keep Donald Trump in office. Perry promoted bogus claims of election fraud without evidence. Perry’s bogus claims played a part in the false narrative that motivated thousands of insurrectionists to try to overthrow the constitutionally elected president.
The Washington Post called Perry “the chief conduit …. to the White House in Trump’s quest to overturn his defeat.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/23/scott-perry/
Perry stonewalled the House committee to investigate the January 6th insurrection, defying a lawful subpoena. Perry also reportedly sought a pardon from former President Trump for any crimes he may have committed relating to the insurrection.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who served as the January 6th committee, said, “The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you’ve committed a crime.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/23/scott-perry/
Perry, chair of the GOP far-right Freedom Caucus, made the Trump White House aware of Jeffrey Clark, a relatively obscure Justice Department official who bought into the president’s claim that the election had been stolen — even though, and I repeat myself, there was no hard evidence to support it.
Clark’s claim was rejected by Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general and other high-ranking officials in the Justice Department.
Clark was later indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, with 18 other defendants for trying to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.
See Jeffrey Clark:
Perry introduced the president to Clark, whose openness to conspiracy theories about election fraud presented Mr. Trump with a welcome change from Rosen, who followed the Constitution, stood by the results of the election, and repeatedly resisted the president’s efforts to undo the results.
Texts from Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, showed that Perry tried to replace Jeff Rosen with Jeffrey Clark but also tried to have U.S. intelligence agencies investigate baseless conspiracy theories.
Perry, who was among those who voted to reject the Electoral College results even after dozens of failed lawsuits, hand recounts, and the storming of the Capitol, has a long history of perpetuating baseless conspiracy theories.
In 2018, Perry blamed an Islamic terrorist organization for the mass shooting in Las Vegas shooting that killed nearly 60 people — even though all law enforcement agencies say the gunman Stephen Paddock acted alone.
Perry once challenged then-CNN host Chris Cuomo for overstating Cuomo’s comment about the lack of water and electricity in hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico. “You’re simply just making this stuff up,” Perry said.
Hurricane Maria was later blamed for killing 3,000 people.
In 2019, Perry wrote an op-ed for Fox News that blamed the “deep state” in the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
The Philadelphia Inquirer called Perry “one of the leading figures in the effort to throw out Pennsylvania’s votes in the 2020 presidential election.”
On January 27, 2021, Ryan Sanders, a former congressional candidate who has long known Perry, wrote an op-ed for the Inquirer that called for the congressman to resign because of his involvement in the Clark-Trump scheme to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election.
“Perry,” Sanders said, “conspired with the president of the United States and a member of the Justice Department to subvert the will of the American people.”
“Perry has been at the center of the worst of Trump’s lies. He has supported the spread of conspiracy theories and actively deceived his constituents,” Sanders wrote. “Perry is part of what is wrong with American politics today. He is part of the reason why we, as Americans — as neighbors and fellow people — have such a difficult time engaging with each other.”
Sanders closed his column as follows:
“None of that is what a member of the United States Congress is supposed to do. As the title of U.S. representative suggests, his job is to represent all his constituents, not just the ones who agree with and are ready to support him. He has failed, fantastically, at his job. He has brought shame to our region of Pennsylvania, making us look like coconspirators in his failed attempt to overthrow our American democracy.
“He must resign. If he does not, Congress should enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution:
‘No person [who] shall be a … Representative in Congress …, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.’
“Central Pennsylvania deserves representation that respects our voters and upholds our Republic.”
