Secret Service deleted text messages ahead of Jan. 6 riot, says IG
by Caroline Vakil and Rebecca Beitsch - 07/14/22 6:04 PM ET
The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified lawmakers that the U.S. Secret Service had deleted text messages on Jan. 5, 2021 and on the day of the Capitol riot itself after they had been formally requested by investigators.
DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote in a letter addressed to House and Senate Homeland Security committees, which was given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol rioting, that text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 had been “erased as part of a device-replacement program,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Hill and first reported by The Intercept.
“The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications from the USSS, as part of our evaluation of events at the Capitol on January 6,” Cuffari continued.
The letter said DHS officials had told the OIG that the could not provide records directly to the inspector general until they were reviewed by lawyers.
“Second, DHS personnel have repeatedly told OIG inspectors that they were not permitted to provide records directly to OIG and that such records had to first undergo review by DHS attorneys. This review led to weeks-long delays in OIG obtaining records and created confusion over whether all records had been produced,” he added.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House select committee, said that they had just received the letter and did not immediately know who deleted the text messages.
“Well, they were not clear as to how, they just know that they’re not there,” Thompson said.
“And we had asked them some time ago to look at it. So it didn’t come on the committee side, it came on the Homeland side. And this was their — it was a letter. I have not seen the report yet. So it’s concerning, obviously, and if there’s a way we can reconstruct the text … we will,” he added.
A spokesperson for the DHS Office of the Inspector General declined to delve into the letter when reached for comment by The Intercept.
“To preserve the integrity of our work and protect our independence, we do not discuss our ongoing reviews or our communications with Congress,” the spokesperson told The Intercept.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General and U.S. Secret Service for comment.
Speaking to CNN last month, Marc Short, a former chief of staff to former Vice President Pence, said he had contacted Secret Service ahead of the day of the Capitol riot.
“And I think with thousands of people descending upon Washington with hopes of a different outcome, I just thought it was important that they be alerted to that,” Short told the network. “But I didn’t have any specific intelligence, I did not have any knowledge the Capitol would be attacked the way it was.”
The Secret Service also came up during dramatic testimony to the Jan. 6 panel last month from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
She offered a second-hand account that Trump had tried to grab the steering wheel of the car he was in and tried to lunge at a member of Secret Service personnel after he was told he could not go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3560051-secret-service-deleted-text-messages-ahead-of-jan-6-riot-says-ig/
