In The News

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., says he and Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, are "well qualified" for the House Intelligence Committee appointments given to them by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

"Rep. Jackson and I have decades of years in service with national security clearances, done top secret military work, and are both well qualified for the job," Perry told Wednesday's "Newsline" on Newsmax.

"These are just baseless and false political accusations that are cheap shots based on just pure politics. They don't have any basis in fact or merit.

"But this is the swamp who rejects anybody taking a look at what the American people want them to look at. And so, I think that Rep. Jackson and I are proud to be on the committee, and we're happy to work with our members, our other members of the committee, to make sure our intelligence agencies are thwarting America's enemies, but also that they're operating within the confines and the guidelines of the Constitution."

Johnson is facing pressure from Democrat members of the panel over the appointment.

"With the committee's critical charge and unique jurisdiction in mind, the appointment of any member unfit for such sacred duty creates untenable risk to national security and our democratic norms," Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., wrote in a letter to Johnson Tuesday.

Houlahan also argued there are "hundreds of duly elected and upstanding members of Congress on both sides of the aisle" qualified to serve on the committee.

On the House vote happening Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over his failure to hand over audio of special counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Joe Biden, Perry told Newsmax that the House "has the requirement of doing oversight of the other branches to make sure that the balls and strikes are being called correctly."

"When one of them, this branch, the executive branch in this case, is running cover for potential crimes, we simply can't allow that," he added. "And Merrick Garland doesn't get to decide what's appropriate for the legislative branch, what the people's branch is appropriate for us to have.

"We'll determine that. And all we're asking for is the evidence. They've already given us some form of the evidence. But understand, this is their version of the evidence, not the evidence. We're just asking for the evidence."