GOP Rep. Scott Perry rejects Jan. 6 committee's request for records

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.).
(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) on Tuesday said he will not cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

On Monday, the committee's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), sent Perry a letter asking him to sit for an interview and share documents with the panel. Thompson wrote that multiple witnesses, including former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, have provided the committee with evidence showing Perry played "an important role" in the efforts to install Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general during the final days of the Trump administration.

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Perry is the first sitting lawmaker to receive a request from the committee for an interview and information; the panel asked for documents and correspondence between Perry and Trump, members of his legal team, and anyone involved in planning the events of Jan. 6, The Associated Press reports. In his letter to Perry, Thompson said the committee has both "tremendous respect for the prerogatives of Congress and the privacy of its members" and "a solemn responsibility to investigate fully all of these facts and circumstances."

Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.