Republican who had phone seized suggests he would have destroyed it if there was Jan. 6 evidence

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) warned that "tyranny is going to come into everyone's living room very shortly" after he had his phone temporarily seized by FBI agents.

In an interview on Fox News, Perry said that the search of his phone and a new bill to fund the IRS are signs of "tyranny" in the United States.

"Tyranny is going to come right into everyone's living room very, very shortly," he explained.

Perry suggested that he would have already destroyed his phone if it had evidence of crimes related to the 2020 election or the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"This is an abuse of power," he said. "Look, they are using these tactics to intimidate people, coerce people, and it's not something that anyone aspires to."

"But, Maria, people that BleachBit [to erase] their phones and hit them with hammers, smash them with hammers and those types of things have something to hide," Perry added. "People that keep the same phone a year and a half after the election aren't worried about what's on their phone, and so that's me."

The congressman accused the FBI of wanting to "destroy" him politically.

"Anybody that doesn't bend the knee, that isn't intimidated, that isn't parroting the narrative is now subject to these kinds of third-world banana republic tactics," Perry complained.

According to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Perry is one of several Republicans who sought pardons after trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election on behalf of then-President Donald Trump.

Watch the video below from Fox News.