Special Counsel Jack Smith is now facing some challenges in his January 6 investigation.
Smith was hoping to get his hands on phone records, but he has been blocked.
This is a fairly significant blow for Smith in this case.
Not Happening
Up for grabs were the phone records of Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).
The appeals court ruled that Smith may not have his phone records because it would violate constitutional immunity guaranteed to him under the "speech and debate" clause, reported Politico.
Clearly, the appeals court believed that Perry's communications were part of his official duties, which is why they remain protected.
U.S. District Judge Neomi Rao stated, "While elections are political events, a member's deliberation about whether to certify a presidential election or how to assess information relevant to legislation about federal election procedures are textbook legislative acts."
To further support that decision, Rao wrote, "We disagree with the district court's holding that informal factfinding is never a legislative act. But we also reject Representative Perry's proposition that informal factfinding is always a legislative act."
Rao, we should note, is a Trump appointee, so keep that in the back of your mind when Democrats lose their respective minds over this.
Smith also has one more thing to worry about, that being a request by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) regarding a meeting between Jay Bratt and Stanely Woodward.
In part, Jordan wrote, "In November 2022, when your prosecutors were trying to secure the cooperation of Walt Nauta—who is alleged to have 'move[d] boxes of documents' at Mar-a-Lago—prosecutors, including Mr. Bratt, summoned Mr. Woodward to a meeting at the Department's headquarters for 'an urgent matter that they were reluctant to discuss over the phone.'"
If you wish to read the letter in full, click here.
Now, we know that Smith is not going to willingly supply Jordan with the information requested, so we could very soon have a situation where the Special Counsel is facing a subpoena from Congress.
This mess just gets messier with every passing day.
