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The U.S. Secret Service has determined that it has no new texts to provide Congress with relevant to its Jan. 6 investigation, and that any other text its agents exchanged around the time of the 2021 Capitol attack was purged, according to a senior official briefed on the matter.
In addition, the National Archives on Tuesday sought more information about “the possible unauthorized deletion” of the agency’s text messages. The U.S. government records manager asked the Secret Service to inform the Archives within 30 days of the deletion of any records, including a description of what was purged and the circumstances of how the documentation was lost.
The law enforcement agency, whose agents have been involved in the Jan. 6 investigation because of its shadow role and planning President Donald Trump’s moves that day, is expected. he is expected to share that conclusion with the Jan. 6 committee in response to his citation of texts Friday. and other records.
The agency, which made that determination after reviewing its communications databases over the past four days, will provide thousands of records, but almost all have been previously shared with a control agency and congressional committees, he said. the senior official. No one is expected to shed new light on the key issues the committee is investigating, including whether Trump attacked a Secret Service agent, an account a senior White House aide described to the committee on Jan. 6.
Many of his agents ’cell phone text messages were permanently deleted as of mid-January 2021, and Secret Service officials said it was the result of a reset and replacement of staff phones across the agency. which he began planning months earlier. Secret service agents, many of whom protect the president, vice president and other senior government leaders, were instructed to post any old text messages involving government business to an internal unit of the agency prior to the reinstatement, he said. the senior official, but it seems that many agents did not. they have done so.
The result is that potentially valuable evidence (real-time communications and reactions from agents who interacted directly with Trump or helped coordinate his plans before and during Jan. 6) is unlikely to ever recover, two people familiar with the Secret Service’s communications system. dit. They asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive issues without the agency’s permission.
The select committee of the House investigating the January 6, 2021 raid on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Friday issued a subpoena to the U.S. Secret Service requesting a phone call, post-action reports, and other records related to that time.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security reversed the committee’s investigation last week alleging that the Secret Service had deleted texts around Jan. 5 and 6 after its office had requested them. as part of his own research.
DHS inspector general Joseph Cuffari, appointed by Trump, briefed members of the House select committee on Friday after sending a letter to lawmakers last week informing them that text messages were missing. He also said DHS officials were delaying the delivery of the information he requested, which National Security officials have denied.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency did not maliciously delete text messages and that the Secret Service had lost some data due to a pre-planned replacement for the agency’s entire phone numbers. staff. The replacement began a month before the Inspector General made his request, he said last week.
Guglielmi acknowledged that some phone data had been lost in the change, but stressed that “none of the texts” sought by the OIG were missing.
Committee Chair Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) Noted that the subpoena could resolve the discrepancies in the accounts between the OIG and the Secret Service, which belongs to DHS.
The text messages could provide the committee with more details about the actions of Secret Service agents and the former president around the time of the attack on the Capitol.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified at a hearing last month that Trump wanted to lead the crowd from the Ellipse to the Capitol, despite knowing they were armed, and an agent told him that Trump physically assaulted the Secret Service agent who informed him that he could not go to the Capitol. She did not witness that alleged episode.
Secret Service text messages have become a new focal point for the Jan. 6 congressional investigation, as they could provide information about the agency’s actions on the day of the insurgency and possibly Trump’s. A former White House aide told the House select committee investigating the Capitol assault last month that Trump was alerted by the Secret Service on the morning of Jan. 6 that his supporters were armed, but insisted that they were allowed to enter their manifestation in the Ellipse. with their weapons.
Trump told several White House aides that he wanted to lead the crowd to the Capitol and indicated that his supporters were right in singing about hanging Vice President Mike Pence, all the evidence that helps describe his mood and the that he wanted me to go to the Capitol that day.