The Secret Service confiscated the cellphones of 24 agents who were involved with the agency’s response to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and handed them to the Department of Homeland Security as part of an investigation into the attack, according to reports.
The agency handed the phones over “shortly after” the Secret Service received a letter in July from the DHS inspector general requesting all text messages sent between agents leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, sources told NBC News. That letter came after it was reported the agency no longer had communications from that day.
SECRET SERVICE HANDS OVER ‘THOUSANDS’ OF RECORDS TO JAN. 6 COMMITTEE
It was not previously reported that Inspector General Joseph Cuffari had access to the cellphones since late July or early August, raising questions about how much progress his office has gained on its investigation into the missing text messages. It’s also unclear what, if any, information the Office of the Inspector General has been able to obtain from the cellphones.
The Secret Service agents were upset with the decision to confiscate their phones, sources told the outlet, but because the devices belonged to the agency, they had little choice in the matter.
The revelations come after it was reported in mid-September that the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack received “thousands” of records from the Secret Service in response to a July subpoena. That subpoena from lawmakers sought information about text messages that were sent on Jan. 5, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2021, but were deleted by the agency.
The records handed over consist “primarily” of text messages sent on those dates, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said, but the panel also received “a combination of … thousands of exhibits.”
Cuffari initially issued a request in June 2021 for text messages sent between Secret Service members between Dec. 7, 2020, and Jan. 8, 2021. That request came after lawmakers issued a subpoena in March 2021, seeking similar messages — but only for those “received, prepared, or sent” between Jan. 5, 2021, and Jan. 7, 2021.
Officials later concluded the agency no longer possessed the text messages, which lawmakers hoped would shed light on the days leading up to the riot. The Secret Service maintained the agency did not maliciously delete the communications, noting some were lost due to a “device-replacement program” that began about a month before the inspector general’s request.
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Secret Service text messages could shed light on what transpired behind the scenes on or before the day of the Capitol riot. The agency has come under special interest after ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified at a public Jan. 6 committee hearing that former President Donald Trump attempted to commandeer a Secret Service vehicle and lunged at an agent.
Those claims have been disputed by Trump and reportedly by her source, Robert Engel, the special agent in charge at the time.
