Text messages from early January 2021 belonging to top officials in the Department of Homeland Security are missing, according to reports.
Messages to and from former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, former acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, and acting Undersecretary for Management Randolph “Tex” Alles leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot cannot be found by the agency, according to reports by the Project on Government Oversight and the Washington Post on Thursday. The missing records, reportedly lost during a reset of their department-issued phones, add to the list of documentation related to Jan. 6 that the agency has been unable to provide the House committee investigating the Capitol riot and preceding events.
TRUMP ASKS COURT FOR ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY FROM JAN. 6 LAWSUITS
“It is extremely troubling that the issue of deleted text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is not limited to the Secret Service but also includes Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, who were running DHS at the time,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, told the Washington Post.
The DHS reportedly notified the agency’s inspector general in February that the text messages belonging to the high-ranking officials were missing.
“It appears the DHS inspector general has known about these deleted texts for months but failed to notify Congress,” Thompson said. “If the inspector general had informed Congress, we may have been able to get better records from senior administration officials regarding one of the most tragic days in our democracy’s history.”
DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari has been under fire for weeks over reports of missing text messages from members of the Secret Service, which the DHS oversees, that were deleted around the time of the riot at the Capitol. Jan. 6 committee members have also expressed concern over reports that Cuffari ordered the agency to stop forensics analysis of the phones that contained the apparently deleted Secret Service texts.
On Tuesday, Thompson and House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) demanded Cuffari step aside from the DHS investigation into missing messages and that a new inquiry head be appointed.
In the aftermath of Jan. 6, Wolf resigned from his role as acting secretary of the DHS.
“Effective 11:59 p.m. today, I am stepping down as your Acting Secretary,” Wolf wrote in a message to the department on Jan. 11, 2021. “I am saddened to take this step, as it was my intention to serve the Department until the end of this Administration.”
Cuccinelli remained at the DHS through the remainder of former President Donald Trump’s administration. On the afternoon of Jan. 6, he posted a tweet telling those entering the Capitol “against police orders” that they “must leave,” adding, “There is a proper venue to resolve grievances. This is not it.”
The following day, he tweeted images of himself touring the Capitol and inspecting the damage done to the building by the rioters.
Toured the Capitol last night to review damage & assess situation. Appreciate the work of so many LEOs to restore order there, including @SecretService & #FPS.
Today, @DHSgov is installing security fencing at the request of the Capitol Police & with $$ from Dept of the Army pic.twitter.com/L292yUwycf
— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) January 7, 2021
Alles, the former director of the Secret Service, is still with DHS as acting undersecretary.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The missing texts from the top DHS officials come as both the House Jan. 6 panel and the Department of Justice investigate the role Trump and his allies played in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and whether they incited the storming of the Capitol Building as the results of the election were being certified.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DHS Office of Inspector General for comment.
