The Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security met with the 1/6 Committee to brief them on the Secret Service destroying texts.
The inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, met with the committee behind closed doors two days after sending a letter to lawmakers informing them that the text messages were erased after the watchdog agency asked for records related to its electronic communications as part of its ongoing investigation around the Capitol attack.
The committee now plans to reach out to Secret Service officials to ask about the erasure of text messages from the day of the US Capitol attack and the day before, including the agency’s process for cleaning out files to see if that policy was followed, the committee Chairman Bennie Thompson told CNN.
The Secret Service destroyed texts from 1/5 and 1/6, and the Committee wants to know why and want the texts. The excuse that the texts were deleted during device upgrades doesn’t wash. Anyone with any experience on the Internet knows that deleted files aren’t really gone.
The texts are out there somewhere, probably stored on an encrypted government cloud, and the Committee wants access to them.
The behavior of the Secret Service was suspicious but not unprecedented, given that some Trump loyalists tried to discredit Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony.
It doesn’t look like the excuse that the texts were deleted is going to cut it with the 1/6 Committee, as they are about to start asking questions about the Secret Service.
Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
