washington —
The U.S. Secret Service deleted text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after they were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency's response to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, according to the agency watchdog.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general, which has oversight of the Secret Service, sent a letter to the House of Representatives and Senate Homeland Security committees investigating the January 6 riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The letter, dated July 13, said the DHS had notified the inspector general that the Secret Service had erased "many" messages because of a device-replacement program, after the watchdog had asked the agency for records related to its electronic communications on those dates.
A Secret Service spokesman said the watchdog's claims were "categorically false." The chief of communications for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, followed up by taking the rare step of releasing a statement regarding the accusations.
“The insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false. In fact, the Secret Service has been fully cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) in every respect – whether it be interviews, documents, emails, or texts,” Guglielmi says in the statement.
It was not clear what had prompted the letter to be sent, how many messages were believed deleted, and whom those...
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