A DHS watchdog and the Secret Service are clashing over deleted texts sent on January 5 and 6, 2021.
The DHS inspector general claims agents' messages were erased after their records were requested.
The Secret Service has refuted the claim, calling it a "false" insinuation of malicious conduct.
The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General Joseph Cuffari and the Secret Service have publicly clashed over the deletion of Secret Service agents' text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021.
The conflict began when Cuffari sent a letter notifying the House Committee on Homeland Security, highlighting an "ongoing records access" issue with the DHS.
Cuffari wrote that "many" Secret Service agents' text messages from the day of and day before the Capitol riot were erased "as part of a device-replacement program." However, he also claimed that the messages were erased after a request was sent for Secret Service agent's electronic communications to be handed over as part of an investigation into the event.
Cuffari added that there were "weeks-long delays" in having his office's request met and that there was much "confusion" over whether all the records had been handed over. He also wrote that his office was repeatedly told that any records had to be vetted by DHS attorneys before they were sent over.
Politico verified that the letter was received by the House and Senate homeland security committees.
Responding to the letter, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi ...
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