U.S. News
Government watchdog says Secret Service deleted Jan. 6 text messages
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The government watchdog said Secret Service agents deleted text messages sent and received around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
- The erasure allegedly happened after investigators sought the communications as part of the probe.
- The incident will surely raise new questions for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Secret Service agents deleted text messages exchanged around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack even after an inspector general requested them as part of an investigation, the government watchdog said.
In a letter sent by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, the messages between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, were deleted “as part of a device-replacement program.” The erasure allegedly occurred after the DHS office sought records of electronic communications between the agents. The information was requested as part of its investigation into events surrounding the Capitol attack.
Additionally, Homeland Security personnel were told they couldn’t provide records to the inspector general and any such records would first have to be reviewed by DHS attorneys.
“This review led to a weeks-long delay in OIG obtaining records and created confusion over whether all records had been produced,” states the letter, which was dated Wednesday and sent to leaders of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that he will respond in detail as “we take strong issue with these categorically false claims.”
Statement of Anthony Guglielmi, Chief of Communications for the United States Secret Service on Accusations of Deleted Text Messages From DHS Inspector General: https://t.co/iHIYgnkP3P pic.twitter.com/WhUYEdzkfJ— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) July 15, 2022
The erasure of the messages will surely raise new questions for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. The panel has taken a renewed interest in the Secret Service following after the damning testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.
Hutchinson testified under oath that former President Donald Trump made a “lunge” at his Secret Service detail and tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle when he learned he could not join his supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
She also claimed that she overheard Trump telling security officials to remove magnetometers for his rally on the Ellipse even though he was aware that some of his supporters were armed.
Secret Service agents quickly disputed Hutchinson’s accounts. Robert Engel, the agent who was driving the presidential SUV known as “the Beast, and top presidential security official Tony Ornato said they are willing to testify under oath that no agent was assaulted at the time. They added that the former president never lunged for the steering wheel.
Source: AOL
D.D.
July 16, 2022 at 6:39 pm
They deleted those message after they were told that they were needed for EVIDENCE…
Obstruction of justice and willful destruction of evidence changes should be filed !
M E
July 16, 2022 at 7:05 pm
The Sevret Service will never divulge while still in the service as to overheard conversations or claims such as this against the President or any other person they protect. Trust between the agents and the protected must be maintained.
Mike Tracy
July 16, 2022 at 7:43 pm
I totally agree that anything the secret service does in regard to maintaining the life and security of a US President must remain secret. It’s nobody’s business. “Secret service,” is secret, not news related media, and certainly not public gossip. Not even after a president has left office.
Norma
July 16, 2022 at 8:24 pm
Agree 100%
janell
July 16, 2022 at 8:15 pm
AWW blow it out your tailpipe lib! This whole thing is nothing but a farce to begin with!
Jane
July 17, 2022 at 8:12 pm
Kinda like old Hillary “wiped” her computer (with a towel, lol) after she was told not to! How about the loss of over 30k emails regarding the travesty in Libya that killed our ambassador and several soldiers? As I recall, not a thing happened to her or anyone else.
Vic
July 16, 2022 at 8:57 pm
I also read there is a bullet proof glass panel in the Presidential vehicles, located between front seat and the rear passenger section, both for safety if vehicle fired at, and to ensure privacy for Presidential conversations in back section. Communication to driver is via speaker system being turned on.
I am sure no President, incl Trump, would be able to attack anyone in front, through bullet proof glass, even if wanted to.
Dems are never at a loss for misinformation.
franklin archamblt
July 16, 2022 at 9:06 pm
another reach out to make President Trump guilty of being an American. I listened to his speech and I heard nothing about an attack he just said go and let your voice be heard