Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) issued a statement on Tuesday refusing to cooperate with the House January 6th Committee investigation, even going so far as to call the committee “illegitimate.”

As the committee begins to reveal the roles Republican lawmakers played in the Capitol insurrection and the attempt to overthrow democracy, Perry is of particular interest now because there is evidence and testimony that he communicated with the Trump White House and that he tried to get Jeffrey Clark installed as Acting Attorney General.

We have previously learned that Clark repeatedly tried to pressure the Justice Department to join Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 Election. That scheme included Clark possibly being appointed as Attorney General. Trump ultimately abandoned the plan after top DOJ officials and top White House lawyers threatened to resign in protest.

But Perry is central to this scheme as well, and that’s why the committee wants him to testify. But like other Trump stooges, Perry is refusing to cooperate.

“I stand with immense respect for our Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Americans I represent who know that this entity is illegitimate and not duly constituted under the rules of the US House of Representatives,” Perry said in a statement.

That’s not true. The House voted to create the Select Committee by a majority vote basically the same way House Republicans create the committee to investigate Benghazi, which found no wrongdoing while this committee is finding a lot of wrongdoing. It’s perfectly legitimate and has the power to issue a subpoena and hold people in contempt.

“I decline this entity’s request and will continue to fight the failures of the radical Left who desperately seek distraction from their abject failures of crushing inflation, a humiliating surrender in Afghanistan, and the horrendous crisis they created at our border,” Perry went on to say.

Of course, Trump is the one who surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban. Furthermore, inflation is going down thanks to President Biden’s actions to get the supply chain moving again after corporations slowed it down on purpose. And there is not a crisis on the border as Republicans claim.

The committee should play hardball with Perry and make an example of him. Issue a subpoena and then refer him on criminal contempt charges. He should then be removed from all committee assignments and put in a jail cell until he agrees to cooperate. Let’s see what he thinks about this “illegitimate” committee then.

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