WASHINGTON – The Secret Service has destroyed text messages from both men January 6 and the day before The attack on the Capitol followed the Homeland Security Department’s internal watchdog’s request for records of electronic communications linked to the insurgency, according to a letter sent to congressional committees obtained by NBC News.
Details of the deleted messages were revealed in a letter sent to two congressional committees Wednesday by Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Gaffari, who said he had been informed that several messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 had been deleted. A device replacement program.”
interception First reported the contents of the letters.
A spokesperson for the House Homeland Security Committee confirmed the letter, which was also given to the committee on Jan. 6, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
Ghaffari’s letter was also referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“The USSS destroyed those text messages After “As part of its review of the events at the Capitol on January 6, the OIG requested records of electronic communications from the USSS,” Ghaffari said in his letter.
He said DHS employees repeatedly told inspectors that they were “not allowed to provide records directly” and that the records must first be reviewed by the agency’s lawyers.
“This review led to weeks of delays in receiving OIG records and created confusion as to whether all records had been produced,” he said.
NBC News has reached out to the Secret Service, DHS and its inspector general for comment.
The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The deleted text messages will focus new attention on the Secret Service’s actions surrounding the January 6 riots.
Last month, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson presented Explosive evidence Includes a description of a physical altercation between former President Donald Trump and his top security official.
Hutchinson said Secret Service agent Tony Arnado described in conversations with him Trump grabbing the steering wheel from the back seat, wrestling with a bodyguard for control of the car, and grabbing the bodyguard by the throat when he realized he had been driven. After his speech at the Ellipse he returned to the White House instead of the Capitol to join his supporters.
