Rep. Perry Says Rep. Cheney Lied About Claim He Sought Presidential Pardon

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) speaks during a House Jan. 6 panel hearing in Washington on June 9, 2022. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) lied when she claimed during a June 9 House of Representatives panel hearing that Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) sought a presidential pardon after the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, Perry says.

“The notion that I ever sought a Presidential pardon for myself or other Members of Congress is an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie,” Perry said on Twitter on June 10, a day after the hearing held by the House panel investigating Jan. 6.

During the hearing, Cheney alleged that Perry “contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan. 6 to seek a presidential pardon.”

“Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election,” she added.

She provided no evidence for the claims, and did not identify any other members of Congress other than Perry, who was one of the members who voted against the certification of electoral results from Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Perry said on a podcast that he did not do anything wrong on Jan. 6.

“No, of course not. I was in the Capitol doing my legislative duties,” he said.

Perry also said that the Jan. 6 panel was a “sham committee,” referring to how the panel only has members picked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) because Pelosi rejected choices put forth by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Cheney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The fervent critic of former President Donald Trump is the vice chair of the House panel, which has tried to compel Perry and four other Republicans to appear to testify, but all five have so far refused, calling the attempts unconstitutional.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) speaks to reporters in Washington on Feb. 28, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the committee, told CNN that “we have documentation” of Republicans who asked Trump for pardons.

“That will come out in our hearings,” Thompson said.

The panel, which showed edited social media posts and videos during its hearing, plans to hold additional hearings this month.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the panel, said of the purported pardon requests that “It’s hard to find a more explicit statement of consciousness of guilt than looking for a pardon for actions you’ve just taken, assisting in a plan to overthrow the results of a presidential election.”

No Republican members of Congress have been charged with crimes related to Jan. 6.

The votes against certifying electoral results from several states were legal under congressional rules.

Raskin voted in January 2017 to object to electoral results from Florida, which had voted for Trump.

Unlike in 2021, the effort received no support from a senator, so it did not move forward.

The votes in 2021 failed because a majority in each chamber rejected the effort.