Yahoo!/Gannett: ‘Pure insanity’: Scott Perry pushed conspiracy theory that Italian satellites changed votes

Former top Department of Justice officials Jeffrey Rosen, Richard Donoghue and Steven Engel testified Thursday at a House January 6th Committee hearing about U.S. Rep. Scott Perry’s involvement in attempts to overturn the election results.

According to testimony, Perry pushed hard for Jeffrey Clark, former acting assistant attorney general for the civil division, to meet with top people in the White House, including the president, and drove up internet conspiracy theories that Republican legal experts said were patently false.

On Dec. 31, 2020, Perry texted former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and said, “[w]hy can’t we just work with the Italian government?”

The YouTube video link Perry included in his text to Meadows is no longer available, but it was described in testimony as a debunked conspiracy theory involving Italian satellites changing votes for Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Donoghue, the acting deputy attorney general, testified that the satellite theory was “pure insanity.”

According to video testimony played at the hearing, Perry sought a presidential pardon. In an interview with the January 6th Committee, Cassidy Hutchinson, one of Meadows’ former aides, said Perry asked for a pardon. …

Perry sent a text to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows just days after the 2020 presidential election seeking to reverse or delay the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, CNN reported. …

“It is clear from the evidence made public by the January 6th Committee that Rep. Perry does not respect the will of the voters. No elected official should remain in office, if they do not respect the voters who put them there. We must not continue down this path,” said Khalif Ali, Common Cause Pennsylvania executive director.