Two powerful House Democrats gave the Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog one week to comply with their document requests or face an “alternate means to ensure compliance.”
Listing off a series of instances in which the DHS inspector general’s office “failed to comply” with its obligations to keep Congress apprised about the missing Secret Service text messages from around Jan. 6, the heads of two powerful House committees argued the watchdog lacks “legal justification” to stonewall their review of how the texts went missing.
TOP HOUSE DEMOCRATS DEMAND DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL STEP ASIDE FROM SECRET SERVICE INQUIRY
“Your failure to comply with our outstanding requests lacks any legal justification and is unacceptable. Please provide all responsive documents by August 23, 2022, and make the individuals requested for transcribed interviews available by the same date. If you continue to obstruct, we will have no choice but to consider alternate means to ensure compliance,” the two Democrats wrote in a letter to the DHS inspector general.
Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the Jan. 6 committee and Committee on Homeland Security; and Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), both of whom penned the letter dated Tuesday, previously demanded DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari step aside from the watchdog’s review of the vanishing text messages and allow another inspector to take up the review.
Their new letter to Cuffari hints that they might subpoena the inspector general but does not say so outright.
Last month, Cuffari told the Jan. 6 committee his office sought text messages from Secret Service agents from the time surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but learned that those messages no longer existed. The messages were lost during a “device replacement program,” he subsequently told the Oversight Committee.
Maloney and Thompson have written to Cuffari on three occasions, demanding documents and additional information from Cuffari about the Secret Service text messages and the watchdog’s handling of reports on sexual harassment and domestic violence, according to the letter. They argue Cuffari has not adequately complied with those requests.
“In response to the Committees’ requests, you have refused to produce responsive documents and blocked employees in your office from appearing for transcribed interviews,” the letter added. “Your justifications for this noncompliance appear to reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of Congress’s authority and your duties as an Inspector General.”
Maloney and Thompson further argued the watchdog may have taken “steps to cover up these failures” by removing language from an internal memo that mentioned the text messages.
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In addition to the congressional reviews of the vanishing Secret Service text messages, the National Archives and Records Administration implored the Secret Service to evaluate its record-keeping process.
Last week, a report revealed that multiple oversight entities had sought the personal cellphone numbers of thousands of Secret Service agents. This includes the Jan. 6 committee and the Justice Department.
