Staff Reports
A federal appeals court has stopped the team of special counsel Jack Smith from getting access to the phone records that were taken. This is a win for Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who is close to Trump. The court's decision, which came out on September 5, overturned parts of an earlier decision that let Smith's lawyers look at about 2,000 records from Perry's phone. The details of the appeals court's decision are still under wraps, but a summary judgment in the docket shows that the case has been sent back to a district court so that some of Perry's records can be judged by the right standard.
A federal appeals court blocked special counsel #JackSmith's team from gaining access to seized phone records of Trump ally @RepScottPerry, who has been fighting to keep the records protected.
It's unclear where the case goes from here. https://t.co/oi3oye3UpK
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) September 5, 2023
Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump, made the decision. She stopped the special counsel's team from getting access to Perry's records until the law could be looked at again. Now, it's not clear what will happen next in the case because a spokesman for Smith's office wouldn't say if they would appeal the decision or not. A request for a response from Perry's spokesperson was also not answered right away.
It is important to know that Smith has indicted former President Trump on charges connected to the certification of votes on January 6, 2021. Trump has strongly rejected these accusations, and he has said that the indictment is a political move to hurt his chances of running for president in 2024. In a separate order, the appeals court asked both Perry's lawyers and Smith's team to say if there were any parts of the decision that should be kept secret.
The phone in question was taken during a raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home by the FBI in the summer of 2022. Perry was angry about the seizure and said that his phone has information about his legislative and political actions as well as private conversations. Shortly after the search, Perry sued the Biden administration to stop the review of his phone records and get back the property that had been taken. In December 2022, a district court sided with the DOJ and gave them access to a large number of records. Perry claimed protection over some of the records, though.
The main law question in the case is about the "speech or debate" clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says that members of Congress can't be charged with crimes related to their work. Perry says that many of the records that Smith's team wants to see fit this description and that prosecutors shouldn't be able to see them. Smith's team is looking for these records as part of their investigation into possible involvement with the 2020 election certification. They are especially interested in Perry's communications with Trump White House officials before the breach on January 6.
Overall, this new ruling by the appeals court shows that the legal fights over Perry's phone records are still going on, and it sets the stage for more legal review and possible appeals. Depending on how this case turns out, the limits of congressional immunity and the powers of special counsels could change a lot in future probes. As the case goes on, it will be important to keep an eye on how it might affect politics in general, especially the ongoing partisan split over the events of January 6.
