PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — During the first in a series of public hearings by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the panel alleged Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Scott Perry sought a pardon from then President Donald Trump after the attack.
Panel co-chair Liz Cheney — one of two Republicans on the committee — said Perry was a major leader behind efforts to object the election results. He was also involved in the effort to get Jeff Clark, a Justice Department environmental lawyer, appointed as acting attorney general.
Clark drafted a letter that would have been sent to six states, including Pennsylvania, stating the Justice Department “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.”
“Rep. Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan. 6 to seek a presidential pardon,” Cheney said. “Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.”
Perry, a Republican representing Harrisburg and York, has refused to testify. In a statement, Perry’s spokesperson Jay Ostrich said the allegation “is a ludicrous and soulless lie.”
The primetime Thursday night hearing also included testimony from U.S. Capitol Officer Caroline Edwards, who was the first officer injured on Jan. 6. She described that day as a “war scene.”
“I felt the bike rack come on top of my head and I was pushed backward,” she remembered. “My foot caught the stair behind me and my chin hit the handrail, and then at that point I blacked out.”
The committee played video of the incident to supplement her testimony. Part of the group that knocked Edwards down included Ryan Samsel, of Levittown, Bucks County, according to federal prosecutors.
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Samsel even picked Edwards up off the ground and said, “We don’t have to hurt you, why are you standing in our way?” according to the federal criminal complaint. Edwards later collapsed in a booking area and was taken to the emergency room for a concussion.
Prosecutors said Samsel also pulled on another Capitol officer’s riot shield. He is facing assault and other federal offenses and has pleaded not guilty.
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Overall, the House panel laid the blame firmly on Trump, saying the assault was hardly spontaneous but an “attempted coup” and a direct result of the defeated president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The panel showed a never-before-seen 12-minute video of extremist groups leading the deadly siege as well as startling testimony from Trump’s most inner circle, doubling down that Trump’s repeated lies about election fraud and his public effort to stop Joe Biden’s victory led to the attack and imperiled American democracy.
The hearings may not change Americans’ views on the Capitol attack, but the panel’s investigation is intended to stand as its public record. Ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, and with Trump considering another White House run, the committee’s final report aims to account for the most violent attack on the Capitol since 1814, and to ensure such an attack never happens again.
Watch the House committee hearing below: