Special counsel Jack Smith's team of investigators has been seeking access to more than 2,200 records of communication between Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and the Trump White House and others, but a federal appeals court severely limited their mission with a Tuesday ruling.
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed part of a lower court's decision that would have allowed Smith's prosecutors to access much of the content they sought from Perry's cell phone, seized by the FBI under a 2022 search warrant. Federal investigators were quickly blocked from accessing its contents after Perry filed a motion to keep his communications private citing privileges as a federal lawmaker.
