Congressman Scott Perry (Credit: Scott Perry website)
The FBI surveilled Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) at his congressional office and private residence roughly a month before seizing his cell phone and demanding information for a sprawling probe into 2020 election interference, unclassified records reviewed by The Post show.
The files — which are part of a probe known as “Arctic Frost” that targeted nearly 100 Republican-aligned entities in the wake of President Trump’s electoral loss — show that Perry was trailed by bureau agents in July and August 2022.
“Goal from surveillance is to get a pattern of life, identify his vehicle, and possibly identify a location to serve him with a SW [seizure warrant],” one of the FBI’s documents stated.
Agents watched for Perry and took log notes on July 25 at his home “just south of Harrisburg,” Pennsylvania and at two workplaces in Washington, DC, other documents showed, while on Aug. 4, the congressman was surveilled at a “recreation center” in the nation’s capital.
The records were first obtained by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as part of his oversight of the Arctic Frost probe, referred to in the newly uncovered FBI files as a “sensitive election law investigation.”
“Why were apparently undercover FBI agents surveilling Rep. Perry while representing his constituents at the US Capitol?” asked Russell Dye, a spokesman for Jordan, calling it “a glaring separation-of-powers concern.”
“Was this something approved by Speaker Pelosi? Was it approved by the Democrat’s sham January 6th Committee? Should other Members be concerned that they were being watched for carrying out their constitutional duties?” he added.
The Office of Congressional Affairs was notified of the FBI wanting to conduct an interview with Perry, per the documents.
Five days after the last surveillance date, the FBI executed its warrant while Perry was on vacation in New Jersey on Aug. 9 during the congressional recess.
They had planned to surreptitiously record an interview with him the same date — just one day after agents raided President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
“They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish,” Perry said in a statement to Fox News at the time.
“I’m outraged — though not surprised — that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would seize the phone of a sitting Member of Congress,” he added. (Read more: New York Post, 9/30/2025) (Archive)