The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General says the U.S. Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, after their office specifically requested them. The revelation was made in a letter to the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees by the IG.
Secret Service claims the text messages “were erased as part of a device-replacement program,” the Inspector General’s letter states, as first reported by The Intercept.
“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,” DHS IG Joseph Cuffari said, as CNN reports. “This review led to weeks-long delays in OIG obtaining records and created confusion over whether all records had been produced.”
In response to the ‘device-replacement program” claim, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said, “I’m not buying it.”
Mother Jones’ Dan Friedman, who reports on lobbying and corruption, tweeted: “They’re a law enforcement agency, destroying evidence.”
Retired Harvard Law School law professor Laurence Tribe commented: “If this story holds up, the destruction of potentially vital evidence about an attempt to overthrow the U.S. Government is an extremely serious federal crime that DOJ must immediately investigate.”
Image: Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon via Flickr