Jan 6 Committee Seeks Interview with Republican Congressman Scott Perry

The U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Monday requested an interview with Representative Scott Perry, the first time the panel has publicly sought information from a sitting member of Congress.

In a letter released by the Jan. 6 Select Committee, its chairman asked Perry to voluntarily turn over emails and texts, including communications with former President Donald Trump and his advisers, and to sit for an interview in late December or early January.

The committee said it was seeking information from Perry about Trump's efforts to oust Jeffrey Rosen, the acting head of the U.S. Justice Department during the closing weeks of his presidency, and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, an official at the time who tried to help Trump overturn his election defeat.

"We have received evidence from multiple witnesses that you had an important role in the efforts to install Mr. Clark as acting Attorney General," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and the select committee's chairman, in the letter.

Perry's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter marked a new phase for the lawmakers on the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee, who have so far not publicly demanded information from Republican colleagues who supported Trump's efforts to retain power after losing the Nov. 3 presidential election to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Perry and other Republican lawmakers met with Trump ahead of the attack and discussed how they could block the formal certification of Biden's victory on Jan. 6.

The committee has issued more than 50 subpoenas and heard from more than 300 witnesses in its investigation of the attack by supporters of the Republican ex-president as Congress met to formally certify his loss to Biden.