The Department of Homeland Security watchdog Friday briefed all nine members of the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol of its finding that the Secret Service deleted texts around Jan. 6, according to two people familiar with the matter.
While lawmakers were silent on what they heard, the briefing came behind closed doors with Inspector General Joseph Cuffari two days after his office sent a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees saying that Secret Service agents deleted messages between January 5 and 6, 2021 “as part of a device exchange program.”
The deletion came after the Monitoring Bureau requested records from the agents as part of its investigation into events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, the letter said.
For the Jan. 6 panel, the watchdog’s finding raised the chilling prospect of lost evidence that could shed further light on Donald Trump’s actions during the riot.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chair of the House’s Jan. 6 Committee, said Friday the committee is investigating more closely to determine whether records may have been lost. “There have been some conflicting positions on this matter,” the Mississippi lawmaker said.
The private briefing was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss it.
The Secret Service has admitted to deleting texts dated January 5 and 6, but claimed it was part of a “pre-planned, three-month system migration” and insists proper procedures were followed.
Agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “The allegation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages upon request is false. In fact, the Secret Service has cooperated fully with the OIG in every aspect – be it interviews, documents, emails or texts.”
He said the agency began factory resetting its mobile devices in January 2021 “as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration.” Some data was lost in the process.
The Inspector General first requested electronic communications on February 26 “after the migration was well underway,” Guglielmi said.
The agency, which reports to the Department of Homeland Security, fired back at the inspector general, saying it “maliciously” deleted messages from 2021.
A spokesperson argued the staff “fully collaborated” with Joseph Cuffari with “interviews, documents, emails or texts.”
It comes after Homeland Security IG claimed in a stunning letter that “a lot” of text on that data had been deleted.
The messages were allegedly deleted after his team requested electronic communications from law enforcement as part of their investigation into the attack on the US Capitol.
In this document dated January 6, 2021, archive photo riots faithful to President Donald Trump’s rally at the US Capitol in Washington
The Secret Service said in a statement Thursday night: “The allegation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages upon request is incorrect.
“Indeed, the Secret Service has cooperated fully with the OIG in every respect — whether it’s interviews, documents, emails or texts,” the agency said.
A spokesman said the intelligence agency “began factory resetting its cellphones as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration” in January 2021, before the monitoring bureau opened its investigation.
“Data stored on some phones was lost in the process,” they said.
But the intelligence agency claimed that IG only requested the communications at the end of February – by which time the “migration” had already started.
Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari accused DHS of blocking its investigation into the Capitol riots
The agency also denied the notion that it stonewalled investigators and dragged out the investigation by weeks.
The spokesman added, “DHS has repeatedly and publicly debunked this allegation, including in response to OIG’s last two mid-year reports to Congress. It is unclear why OIG is raising this issue again.’
“It’s Secret Service business. We’re just not going to comment on it,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the matter and whether President Biden still has confidence in the agency.
Earlier, in his bombshell letter to top members of the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, Cuffari claimed the service wiped their phones.
The document, seen by CNN, also accused DHS employees of blocking requests for information pending review by department lawyers.
“This review resulted in weeks of delays [the inspector general’s office] Obtaining records and creating confusion as to whether all records have been provided,” the letter reads.
Inspector General Cuffari wrote that the purpose of his letter was to offer lawmakers a briefing on the “access issues.”
The House of Representatives panel told it would launch an investigation into the matter.
It said the Department of Homeland Security notified its watchdog that the messages were deleted “as part of a device replacement program.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, confirmed to that lawmakers would accept Cuffari’s offer.
“The Homeland Security Committee received a letter from the DHS inspector general regarding the Secret Service’s deletion of text messages requested by the inspector general’s office as part of its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol,” the Mississippi lawmaker said , Thompson.
“The committee will be informed of this extremely disturbing record destruction and will respond accordingly.”
Republican Senator Rob Portman told he was “deeply concerned” by allegations of the Secret Service blockade.
“I am deeply concerned by the letter I received from the Inspector General of DHS documenting the department’s delays in submitting materials to the Inspector General and the deletion of records at the request of the Inspector General,” the Ohio legislature said .
“It’s important that the department be transparent with its inspector general, with Congress and with the American public.”
The role of Secret Service agents in the January 6 events has come under intense scrutiny since the explosive testimony of 25-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson, assistant to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff.
The role of Secret Service agents in the January 6 events (pictured) has come under intense scrutiny since the explosive testimony of 25-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson, assistant to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff
Hutchinson said he was told Trump was physically confronted with his security detail on Jan. 6 when they refused to take him to the US Capitol after he urged his supporters in the White House Ellipse to march there.
“I’m the damn President, take me to the Capitol now,” Hutchinson said, raging at Trump in the back of his vehicle.
When agents protested, Hutchinson said she was told by former deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato that Trump “jumped” at the steering wheel and then at a Secret Service agent.
“Sir, you must take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol,” Hutchinson told Secret Service agent Robert Engel.
‘Mister. Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson recalled.
Ornato “pointed to his collarbone,” she added, in a sign that the president was at his security detail’s throat.
Several people have said that Ornato denies Hutchinson’s account, although he has not yet publicly done so under oath.
Lawmakers on the committee have since confirmed they have witnesses corroborating the testimony of the senior White House adviser, though no details have been released so far.