The federal appeals court released secret texts from Perry on Wednesday, only to take them off the public docket the next day.

Clark received a text message from Rep. Scott Perry at 11:08 pm on December 30, 2020. This was just days before Donald Trump planned to install Jeff Clark as the head of the Justice Department in his frenetic bid to stay in power.

“POTUS appears to be very pleased with your response.” Perry (R.Pa.), a Republican from Pennsylvania, texted the senior Justice Department Official that he had read his text exactly as he dictated.

“I’m praying. This makes me nervous. “I wonder if I am worthy or ready,” Clark responded.

You are the man. It is true. God is a God of reason, Perry said.

Clark, at the time, supported Trump’s false allegations of voter fraud. Trump, in an attempt to use the Justice Department to reverse the 2020 election, had been close to making a decision on appointing Clark as acting attorney-general. In the end, he backed down amid a high level rebellion within DOJ and at the White House. The newly revealed text messages, which were contained in a filing in court that was apparently made public in error on Wednesday, show that Clark had been gearing up for the appointment. He received support from Perry a conservative leader of Congress.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals released the intimate exchange along with other communications. Circuit Court of Appeals heard a previous lawsuit over Jack Smith’s attempt to gain access to the communications on Perry’s phone. In a decision, the court partially blocked Smith’s attempt. It cited the Constitution’s “speech or debating” clause which allows Congress members to block prosecutors from investigating certain communications.

Many documents relating to the case were kept sealed. On Wednesday, however, the D.C. The D.C. Circuit unlocked them, including an opinion from a lower court that quoted and described a large number of text messages Smith was seeking. The unsealed opinions appeared to be removed by Wednesday evening from the public docket of the court, indicating that they may have been accidentally posted.

A court spokesperson did not respond immediately to a comment request. John Rowley is an attorney for Perry. He expressed his dismay over the release of the communications.

Rowley stated that it was unfortunate to have the private communications of Representative Perry, which were taken from a member of Congress who is currently in office and has never been charged with any wrongdoing. The communications show his desire to learn about real-time news regarding the 2020 elections. The communications were intended to be confidential and address important business before Congress as a service to his constituents.”

The FBI had Perry’s cell phone in August of 2022, three months before Smith assumed the investigation. But the congressman immediately moved to prevent prosecutors from gaining access to the data it contained. He cited his constitutional rights.

The unsealed document from Wednesday shows that the search warrant obtained by prosecutors to gain access to Perry’s cell phone included a wide range of information regarding the investigation into Trump’s and his allies’ efforts to overturn 2020 elections. The warrant demanded any communications relating to “alleged electoral fraud,” “efforts made to install Jeffrey Clark in the role of Acting Attorney-General,” and contacts between Perry, Clark, Trump, Trump’s chief staff Mark Meadows and attorney John Eastman, among others. The warrant asked for any communications related to “overturning or decertifying, or delegitimizing the results of the United States presidential elections in 2020, regardless of state.”

Documents recently released reveal a web of communication between Perry, now the Chair of the House Freedom Caucus and other key figures within Trump’s orbit. These include:

Text exchange between Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and myself on Dec. 12, 2020. We discussed efforts to challenge Joe Biden’s election victory.

Perry’s exchanges with Robert Gasaway (a former DOJ co-worker) between Dec. 30, 2021 and Jan. 5, 2102, where Perry accepted a plan for Vice President Mike Pence to “admit” testimony prior to the count of electoral votes in 2021. Perry agreed to call Trump, Pence, and Trump adviser John Eastman to “sell[]” the idea. But Perry then informed Gasaway that Marc Short, Pence’s chief-of-staff, “will not permit access.”

This is a description of the numerous exchanges that took place between Perry and other top Trump officials including Clark, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and senior adviser Eric Herschmann, as well as Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe who was formerly a colleague of Perry’s in Congress.

A Nov. 12, 2020 text sent to Trump campaign lawyer Alex Cannon, advising the campaign about challenges to the results of the Pennsylvania election, as well numerous other contacts with Trump affiliated lawyers Jenna Ellis and Boris Epshteyn, Justin Clark.

A conversation with Simone Gold. She is a doctor who has been known to oppose the Covid vaccine. She would later plead guilty for her part in the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol.

In exchanges with many Pennsylvania state legislators including Doug Mastriano about how to challenge the election results in Pennsylvania.

Texts between “cybersecurity experts” and attorney Sidney Powell, who are working to challenge election results. Phil Waldron is included. Perry sent an email to Rich Higgins, a former Trump National Security Council employee, to convey the “incredibly spooky allegation” that the U.S. Army confiscated German election servers to cover up fraud.

Perry said to retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney that he was going to try and get Sidney Powell or him booked on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program. Perry’s filing reveals that he was in contact with Phil Waldron at various times, a purported cyber expert who worked with Powell. They discussed ways to provide information to state legislators.

“Rep. Perry told Waldron, “Show me what you’ve got” and promised to ‘fast-track any questions/answers to the leadership of the Pa state legislature’. He also said, “[w]e will need a link in the other States’.”

The exchanges between Trump and Clark, a DOJ official who was described as one of six co-conspirators unnamed in Smith’s federal criminal indictment against Trump in an attempt to subvert 2020 elections — are the most telling. Perry introduced Clark, a low-profile official who was responsible for the Justice Department’s civil litigation during the last months of Trump’s presidency, to Trump.

Trump was close to appointing Clark the acting attorney general at the beginning of 2021, but backed down.