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A central Pennsylvania congressman played a “key” role in efforts to topple the 2020 election results, and pushed to get the country’s top intelligence official to investigate baseless conspiracy theories, according to a newly published report.
The lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-10th District, who voted against certifying his home state’s election results, texted former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Nov. 12, 2020, and told him that, “From an Intel friend: DNI needs to task NSA to immediately seize and begin looking for international comms related to Dominion,” CNN reported on Tuesday.
In that text, Perry, a veteran and former Pennsylvania state lawmaker, apparently urged Meadows to get former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to order the National Security agency to “investigate debunked claims that Dominion voting machines were hacked by China,” CNN reported.
According to CNN, Perry wrote to Meadows again on Nov. 12, claiming that “the Brits” had masterminded a conspiracy to manipulate American voting machines, and that former CIA Director Gina Haspel was aiding in a cover-up.
Haspel is “still running around on the Hill covering for the Brits who helped quarterback this entire operation,” Perry texted Meadows, according to CNN. “DNI needs to be tasked to audit their overseas accounts at CIA – and their National Endowment for Democracy. “
More than a month later, Perry texted Meadows again, sending him a YouTube link sharing a conspiracy theory that votes were changed by Italian satellites, CNN reported
“Why can’t we just work with the Italian government?” Perry wrote. Meadows apparently did not respond to the text message, CNN reported. Perry also forwarded the same link to then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, CNN reported. Perry did not respond to CNN”s requests for comment.
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Perry “endorsed” a plan, floated by Trump White House officials and their Republican loyalists on Capitol Hill, to send thousands of pro-Trump extremists to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as former President Donald Trump and his supporters sought to upend the 2020 election results.
Perry, a York County Republican who now heads the House’s ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, was specifically identified as a supporter, the New York Times reported, citing newly released testimony obtained by the U.S. House panel investigating the deadly attack.
Perry has refused to speak to the House panel, the Capital-Star previously reported. He did not respond to the Times’ request for comment.
The account of the planning call was provided by a senior aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the Times reported.
“I don’t think there’s a participant on the call that had necessarily discouraged the idea,” the aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, said, according to the Times.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John Micek for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.
