Court filing gives rare look inside FBI seizure of lawmaker's phone in 2020 election probe

Snippets and short summaries of texts and emails sent by Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, a top Trump ally, have emerged publicly for the first time as part of a court filing that was unsealed — perhaps inadvertently — by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., as part of a legal battle with federal prosecutors.

The messages reveal more about what investigators want to know, what actions Perry took in the weeks after the election and where Perry may fit in the web of Trump loyalists who were central to his bid to remain in power.

It was Perry’s efforts to elevate Jeffrey Clark to Trump’s acting attorney general — and likely reverse the Department of Justice’s stance that it had found no evidence of widespread voting fraud that would change the election — that have made him a figure of interest to federal prosecutors.

Perry, in the past, has said he merely “obliged” Trump’s request that he be introduced to Clark.

But the messages suggest that Perry was a key ally for Clark, providing encouragement as he sought to win Trump’s favor. At one point Perry told a nervous Clark that “you are the man” and seemingly helped him prep for an important meeting and secure a higher security clearance.