“The idea that I never asked for a presidential pardon for myself or other members of Congress is an outright, shameless and lifeless lie,” Perry wrote on Twitter on Friday. During a review of the commission’s investigation, Cheney, the vice president of the selection committee and one of the two Republicans, said Perry was involved in efforts to appoint Justice Department attorney Jeff Clark as attorney general. Trump wanted Clark to be the nation’s top law enforcement official to authorize him to send a letter to Georgia and other states saying, according to Cheney, that the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may had affected the outcome of the election. ” Other Justice Department officials appointed by Trump, including Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen and Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoye, threatened to step down and confront the then-President, Mr. Graff, and Mr. Grass. Rosen will testify before the committee at its hearing on Wednesday, June 15, according to CBS News. After claiming that Perry had supported Clark’s appointment as attorney general, Cheney said: “As you can see, Perry’s White House contacted the White House in the weeks following Jan. 6. Many other Republican lawmakers also called for for their role in trying to overthrow the 2020 elections “. She did not name any additional members of Congress, nor did she provide additional evidence to support the allegation in her statement Thursday afternoon, which provided a kind of executive summary of the case that the committee will present during the next five hearings in June.
Perry is one of five Republican lawmakers the commission has asked to testify in its inquiry. None of them appeared in response to the summons. The others are House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Andy Biggs of Arizona. The Pennsylvania lawmaker initially rejected a December request from the commission to testify voluntarily about his discussions with Justice Department officials. In a May letter in response to the summons, his lawyer wrote that “there was nothing inappropriate in these discussions and Mr. Perry saw no reason to be questioned by Democrats that [House Speaker Nancy] Pelozi was appointed to the Commission “. Perry, like other Republicans, has argued that the select committee is illegal because Pelosi refused to allow some of McCarthy’s nominees to serve on the committee – an argument rejected by a Trump-appointed judge in court. According to an October report from a Senate committee investigating the attacks, Perry recommended Clark to Trump, and the three met at the Oval Office on December 23, 2021. The committee also found Perry summoning Donhong on December 27 for to discuss unfounded allegations of voter fraud in Pennsylvania and referred to Clark during the call. Rob Legare and Melissa Quinn contributed to this story.

Attack on the US Capitol

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Rebecca Kaplan covers Congress for CBS News.