DHS watchdog takes over inquiry into lost Secret Service texts from Capitol riot
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The Homeland Security Department’s watchdog has opened an investigation into the loss of Secret Service text messages from the days surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year.
The inspector general of Homeland Security is conducting the inquiry and has instructed the Secret Service to stop its internal investigation, according to a person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified.
As Trump watched the Capitol siege on TV, members of Pence’s security detail feared for their lives, the panel says in its last televised hearing until September.
If investigators find evidence a crime was committed, the matter is typically referred to the Justice Department for prosecution.
Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that it has received the inspector general’s letter on the topic and has informed the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.
The Homeland Security investigation was earlier reported by NBC.
The committee has subpoenaed the texts for clues to what happened that day, including reports of then-President Trump being blocked by agents from accompanying his supporters to the Capitol. The panel plans to hold a prime-time hearing Thursday night.
The texts could provide insight into that episode as well as security concerns surrounding then-Vice President Mike Pence, who had gone to the Capitol to preside over the electoral college certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The Secret Service, Guglielmi said, “will conduct a thorough legal review to ensure we are fully cooperative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other.”
The committee investigating the insurrection will focus on what Trump was doing on Jan. 6, 2021. This is the story of what happened without him.
The agency has denied wrongdoing and said some data were lost when it reset its cellphones to factory settings in January 2021, before the inspector general’s inspection began the next month.
On Tuesday, the keeper of federal records asked the Secret Service to determine whether any text messages by agents around the time of the attack were improperly deleted. The National Archives and Records Administration said in a letter to the agency that it must submit a report within 30 days documenting what occurred.
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