On January 5 and January 6, 2021, text messages sent between U.S. Secret Service agents were destroyed as part of a “device-replacement program” that had been pre-planned.
The House Select Committee looking into the attack on the Capitol on January 6 reportedly requested correspondence from the organization, according to Ken Klippenstein of The Intercept. The messages had been deleted, lawmakers had been notified.
According to Klippenstein: “Messages from January 5 and January 6, 2021, were deleted by the Secret Service, according to a memo sent to the January 6 committee and examined by The Intercept. The House and Senate homeland security committees received the letter initially from the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security.”
The texts, which were sought by the House Select Committee looking into the attack on January 6, are no longer there due to the continuing investigation into the Capitol’s looting.
According to CNN, “the letter, which was originally sent by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General to the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, claims that the messages were deleted from the system as part of a device-replacement program after the watchdog requested records pertaining to the agency’s electronic communications.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the committee’s chair, acknowledged receiving the letter.
According to a letter the DHS Inspector General sent to the Committee on Homeland Security, the Secret Service deleted text conversations after being asked to do so by the Office of Inspector General as part of its investigation into the attack on the Capitol on January 6, Thompson said. “The Committee will be informed about this extremely worrying destruction of records and take appropriate action,”
At this time, lawmakers have no reason to think that the messages were erased as part of a plot to conceal anything.
According to accounts, the Secret Service helped secure former Vice President Mike Pence on January 6 and stopped former President Donald Trump from visiting the Capitol before it descended into an uprising.
In a statement Thursday night, the Secret Service refuted claims that it “maliciously erased text conversations.”
“DHS has frequently and openly refuted this accusation, including in response to OIG’s most recent two semi-annual reports to Congress,” the department continued. Why OIG is bringing this up again is unclear.
Here is their statement:
“The claim that text messages were intentionally removed by the Secret Service after receiving a request is untrue. In truth, whether it be through interviews, papers, emails, or texts, the Secret Service has been entirely cooperative with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG).
First, as part of a planned, three-month system migration, the Secret Service started to reset its mobile phones to factory settings in January 2021, before any OIG inspection on this matter was opened. Some phones’ stored data was lost throughout the operation.
The first electronic communication request came from DHS OIG on February 26, 2021, after the migration had already begun. While confirming to OIG that none of the texts it was looking for had been lost in the move, the Secret Service informed DHS OIG of the loss of data on several phones.
Second, neither the assertion made by DHS OIG regarding DHS’s participation with its inquiry is true nor is it brand-new. On the contrary, DHS OIG has previously asserted that lawyer review prevented its personnel from receiving timely and proper access to materials. This claim has been refuted by DHS repeatedly and in the open, including in its response to the last two semi-annual reports to Congress from the OIG. Why OIG is bringing up this problem again is unclear.”