Perry, a Pennsylvania congressman since 2013, is unhappy about the seizure. “My phone contains information about my legislative and political activities and personal conversations with my wife, family, constituents and friends. None of this is the government’s business,” he replied to the conservative channel Fox News. According to Perry, the FBI did not contact his attorney beforehand. The angry congressman said he would rather hand over his phone voluntarily than be ambushed by three officers.

Perry, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, is under investigation as part of a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US capital by Trump supporters. He helped circulate Trump’s reports on alleged election fraud in 2020 and was in contact with the White House in the weeks leading up to the 2021 Capitol attack. Perry attended a meeting with the president in December 2020 to discuss options to deny, change, or overturn the recognition of the election results.

In June, a House committee hearing into the Capitol storming revealed that Perry was one of five Republican members of Congress to apologize to Trump for their role in the election-altering scheme. The other four pardons were Moe Brooks, Matt Gates, Andy Biggs and Louie Gommert. They would have asked for a so-called preventive pardon, which the president can grant before a sentence is imposed or someone is found guilty of a crime. Perry has so far refused to testify before the commission of inquiry.

The FBI raided Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, yesterday. The raid would have involved documents illegally taken from the White House after Trump took office.