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Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. referred to the House Ethics Committee?

What you need to know about the York County Republican again making headlines.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., speaks during a news conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus outside the U.S. Capitol in February.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., speaks during a news conference with members of the House Freedom Caucus outside the U.S. Capitol in February.Read moreDrew Angerer / MCT

U.S. Rep Scott Perry is one of four members of congress that was referred to the House Ethics Committee Monday for his failure to comply with subpoenas related to a congressional investigation into Jan. 6. It’s the latest in the 18-month probe into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In August, the FBI seized the Pennsylvania Republican’s phone in connection to the inquiry — at the time Perry said the U.S. Department of Justice told him and his attorneys that he is “not a target of its investigation,” though the basis of the search of his cell phone was not immediately clear.

Still, Perry has been a central figure in the prime-time hearings of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

In its summary of its final report Monday, the Jan. 6 congressional committee wrote Perry and others showcased “willful noncompliance,” which “reflects discredit on Congress.”

“If left unpunished, such behavior undermines Congress’s longstanding power to investigate in support of its lawmaking authority and suggests that Members of Congress may disregard legal obligations that apply to ordinary citizens,” read the summary.

The committee also said Perry and other members of Congress who attended a Dec. 21 meeting with then President Donald Trump “should be questioned in a public forum about their advance knowledge of and role in President Trump’s plan to prevent the peaceful transition of power.”

Here’s what else you need to know

Political basics

What is his political background?

Perry, 60, was a Pennsylvania state representative for three terms before being elected to Congress in 2012. Now in his third term on Capitol Hill, he represents Dauphin County, as well as parts of Cumberland and York Counties.

What committees is Perry on?

Perry is on the House Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Foreign Affairs.

He also is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republican lawmakers that became Trump loyalists in recent years.

Trump connections

How has Perry supported Trump?

Perry was a major player in Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and pushed the former president’s baseless claims of widespread fraud.

What is Perry’s role in the Jan. 6 investigation?

In the hours after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Perry made a speech on the House floor in which he urged that Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes be thrown out.

In the landmark public hearings held by the House panel investigating the insurrection, more has been revealed about Perry’s behind-the-scenes role in Trump’s failed scheme.

» READ MORE: Scott Perry, Philly Proud Boys, and more: Pa. had a starring role in the first Jan. 6 committee hearing

Prior to the attack on the Capitol, Perry asked Justice Department officials to look into debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud, including a false report that there were more votes than registered voters in Pennsylvania, the committee found.

Perry also advocated for replacing Justice Department officials with those who would be more compliant with Trump’s plans to usurp the election results. He tried to help install Philadelphia-born attorney Jeffrey Clark as attorney general. Clark’s phone was also seized earlier this summer.

Did Perry ask for a pardon?

Perry contacted the White House asking for a preemptive pardon in the days after Jan. 6, according to the House panel investigating the attack.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, testified that Perry was among the Republican lawmakers who sought to spare themselves of criminal liability, saying he spoke to her directly about the pardon request.

Perry’s spokesperson denied that he did so, calling it “a ludicrous and soulless lie.”

“At no time did I speak with Miss Hutchinson, a White House scheduler, nor any White House staff about a pardon for myself or any other Member of Congress — this never happened,” Perry said in a June statement.

» READ MORE: Pa. Republicans’ roles in attempts to overturn 2020 election draw scrutiny in congressional, FBI probes

His background

What did Perry do before becoming a representative?

Perry was raised by a single mother in central Pennsylvania. They lived in Harrisburg and then in Dillsburg, York County, where he attended high school.

He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1991 with a degree in business administration management.

Before his political career took off, he held various jobs, including mechanic, dockworker, draftsman, and licensed insurance agent, according to his biography. He and his mother started a mechanical contracting business out of their Dillsburg garage.

» READ MORE: Scott Perry, Philly Proud Boys, and more: Pa. had a starring role in the first Jan. 6 committee hearing

Was Perry in the military?

Yes. He enlisted in the Army after high school and attended basic training at Fort Dix.

He transferred from the Field Artillery branch to Army Aviation upon graduation from advanced training. In 2011, he served as commander of the Fort Indiantown Gap National Training Site in Lebanon County. He also received a master’s degree from the United States Army War College.

In all, he served for nearly 40 years, flying combat missions in Iraq and retiring as a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2019.

Perry’s political status

The incumbent defeated Democratic challenger Shamaine Daniels, an immigration lawyer and Venezuela native, in November.

What is Perry saying?

Perry’s camp remained defiant Monday after the referral was made public.

Jay Ostrich, a spokesperson for Perry, said called the Jan. 6 congressional committee a “kangaroo court.”

”Congressman Perry is pressing on with his commitment to help his constituents, who, once again — unlike several members of this illegitimate entity — overwhelmingly sent him back to Washington to fix what President Biden and his enablers have broken,” Ostrich said.