WASHINGTON — Far-right Republican Rep. Scott Perry (PA) disputed evidence that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was involved in any way with the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Perry was asked on Capitol Hill Tuesday if he sees any problems with speaker-hopeful Jordan's behavior on or around Jan. 6.
"I don't know what that would be," Perry said. "I don't know that he had anything to do with Jan. 6. I wonder what — what are you implying?"
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"I'm not implying anything," the reporter responded.
"It seems like you're implying something," Perry shot back.
The reporter cited a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the 2020 election overthrow attempt that Jordan dodged.
National political reporter Taylor Popielarz from Spectrum News posted a thread on Tuesday walking through all the interviews he did with Jordan in which he asked the Congressman about his role on and around Jan. 6. Jordan was tasked with being the "unofficial congressional spokesman" for Donald Trump in the House at the time.
"On Jan. 6, 2021, Jordan played a leading role in getting lawmakers to object to certifying Biden's election win on the House floor, despite no evidence of widespread fraud existing. Jordan's communications with Trump on that day have been under a bright spotlight ever since," wrote Popielarz.
Jordan has never officially answered questions about his involvement, claiming that as a Congressman it was part of his job and thus falls under the "speech and debate clause." But Perry said that the House Select Committee was "partisan," and thus unreliable for implying anything about Jordan.
"It was a partisan committee that wasn't constituted under the rules and has no jurisdiction to do that," claimed Perry. "It was a so-called committee that determined the outcome of — that was made to do what it was meant to do, which was smear people here for having a different political view. I think the American people see that, I think they understand that. I think we're way beyond that."
Raw Story asked if, given the fact that Jordan questioned the 2020 election results, his speakership would give Trump another shot.
"What I think is that we all were interested in finding out what happened," Perry said. "Finding out — following the facts. And unfortunately, that never happened. So I know the press' narrative about overturning things, but that was never the goal. The goal was to determine exactly what happened for the American people and for ourselves, and that never happened."
At the point at which the Jan. 6 protests happened, there had been over 60 failed lawsuits attempting to challenge the election. In each case, the Trump team failed to provide any evidence that the election wasn't decided definitively.
Unknown at the time, Trump went on to hire two firms for nearly $1.4 million that did independent investigations into whether there was fraud in 2020. In both cases they found nothing.
The company Cyber Ninjas, which has a pro-Trump CEO, was tasked with finding fraud in the Arizona election process and found none. It was reported last week that another big Republican donor ordered an investigation into the results of a Pennsylvania county's results, and no fraud was found there either.
"So, you're still undecided? You don't know what happened?" Raw Story asked Perry about the 2020 election.
"Do you know?" Perry shot back.
"Do you think Biden is an illegitimate president?" Raw Story asked.
Another reporter asked if there could be another inquiry into the 2020 election if Jordan is Speaker.
"You said people want to find out what happened," said the reporter.
"No, the evidence has all been destroyed, or most of it probably has. We're never going to know the point of that. So, that's just the way that is," said Perry.
"Which evidence?" Raw Story asked.
"The narrative that anybody who questions — like do you ever go back to the Democrats who question the results of the first president's election in 2016 or even further back than that with Democrats?" asked Perry. "Democrats were complaining about election results."
In 2016, Hillary Clinton conceded her loss and Trump was accepted as the winner.
"Do you ever go back to tell them — ask them questions overturning elections? I don't think you do," Perry complained. "It's wholly partisan!"
He was also asked about whether the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden would change with a new speaker of the House. Perry claimed that the impeachment isn't dependent on the leadership, but on the "facts."
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) has maintained that it is a deal-breaker for him if a candidate for speaker denies the 2020 election. Raw Story asked why that is so important to him.
"I'll tell you, because I think — well, I voted to certify," Buck told us, stating that the "rule of law party not go around violating the law."
Raw Story asked if Buck worries about elements in the caucus like Jordan getting the reins of the party.
"I gotta tell ya, someday someone is going to teach a class — we have so many solid, good, institutions that stopped an insurrection, that stopped a revolt, that stopped the nonsense that some people advocated," said Buck.
"When people say, 'Oh the country was threatened.' Bulls--t. The vice president did the right thing. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were there. I mean, all these institutions were in place to make sure nothing bad happened. We have some bad actors. We had a good result. And I don't mean the Jan. 6 result, I mean after Jan. 6."
