The Secret Service deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, after an internal watchdog requested them as part of a review of the department’s handling of last year’s Capitol riot, the watchdog said this week.
A letter sent Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General to the heads of the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, which was obtained by ABC News, said the messages were deleted “as part of a device-replacement program” despite the inspector general requesting such communications.
“First, the Department notified us that many US Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, were erased as part of a device-replacement program. The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications from the USSS, as part of our evaluation of events at the Capitol on January 6,” Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general, wrote.
“Second, DHS personnel have repeatedly told OIG inspectors that they were not permitted to provide records directly to OIG and that such records had to first undergo review by DHS attorneys,” Cuffari wrote. “This review led to weeks-long delays in OIG obtaining records and created confusion over whether all records had been produced.”
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ohio’s Rob Portman, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he was “deeply concerned” over the letter.
“I am deeply concerned by the letter I received from the DHS Inspector General documenting the Department’s delays in producing materials to the Inspector General and its deletion of records following requests by the Inspector General. It is essential that the Department be transparent with its inspector general, Congress, and the American public,” he said in a statement.
It is still unclear whether the messages were deleted intentionally or by accident, though the inspector general’s letter comes as the Secret Service is once again under heightened scrutiny following hearings from the House committee investigating the insurrection.
Recent testimony suggested that former President Donald Trump sought to join his supporters in marching from the Ellipse to the Capitol but was stopped by the Secret Service. The agency has since said it will respond on the record to that testimony.