Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had his cellphone seized by FBI agents Tuesday, the day after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, he told Fox News.
Agents confronted Perry while he was traveling with his family and seized his phone without making an attempt to contact his attorney, who would have turned the phone over to the authorities, he told Fox News.
Perry suggested the actions from the FBI in both the confiscation of his cellphone and the raiding of Mar-a-Lago belonged in a corrupt, Third World country.
“As with President Trump last night, DOJ [Justice Department] chose this unnecessary and aggressive action instead of simply contacting my attorneys,” Perry told Fox. “These kinds of banana republic tactics should concern every citizen—especially considering the decision before Congress this week to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to further persecute law-abiding citizens.”
Perry’s statement comes just days after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Trump’s home in Florida, through which they reportedly seized at least 10 boxes of documents, according to The Wall Street Journal. The raid was reportedly due to documents Trump had allegedly failed to return to the National Archives, according to multiple sources.
“I’m outraged—though not surprised—that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ would seize the phone of a sitting member of Congress,” Perry said in his statement. “My phone contains info about my legislative and political activities, and personal/private discussions with my wife, family, constituents, and friends. None of this is the government’s business.”
Perry and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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