(PatriotWise.com)- The DHS inspector investigates the Secret Service’s ‘deletion’ of January 6 texts.
According to reports, the Secret Service was told of the inquiry on Wednesday and ordered to suspend its forensic study into deleted text conversations.
The Secret Service was suspected of deleting text communications from January 5 and 6. They informed the January 6 Committee it had no new text communications relating to the Capitol demonstration.
Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy said the Committee didn’t get the requested data.
The Secret Service responded Thursday evening to the latest DHS watchdog attack.
They have informed the January 6th Select Committee of the Inspector General’s request and will perform a legal assessment to guarantee complete cooperation with all oversight activities and no conflicts.
CNN says that DHS’s internal inspector has initiated a criminal probe into the deletion of Secret Service phone text messages relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol disturbance, two sources told NBC News.
The Secret Service was alerted of the inquiry Wednesday night by the DHS Inspector General’s office, which claimed the probe is now criminal and that the agency has been told to discontinue internal investigations into deleted text messages.
The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot this week subpoenaed the Secret Service for text conversations after discovering from the Inspector General that data from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, had been wiped due to a “device replacement procedure.”
Wednesday, the committee stated the Secret Service may have broken federal record-keeping law by deleting correspondences. This declaration came a day after the Secret Service said it provided one text message thread.
DHS deputy inspector general Gladys Ayala wrote to Secret Service Director James Murray late Wednesday, declaring that to safeguard the integrity of their inquiry, the USSS must not engage in any additional investigative operations involving the gathering and preserving of evidence indicated above.
The watchdog says the Secret Service destroyed the text exchanges after an oversight panel asked for them. The Secret Service disputed the charges and stated all required text conversations were retained.
“The notion that the Secret Service purposefully erased text communications is false,” stated spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.
