Watchdog: Secret Service's text messages story has shifted several times

Source: The Guardian

Watchdog: Secret Service’s text messages story has shifted several times

Explanation for how the messages from 5 and 6 January 2021 were deleted has gone from software upgrades to device replacements

Hugo Lowell in Washington
Sat 16 Jul 2022 12.30 EDT
Last modified on Sat 16 Jul 2022 13.06 EDT

The Secret Service’s account about how text messages from the day before and the day of the Capitol attack were erased has shifted several times, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security told the House January 6 select committee at a briefing on Friday.

At one point, the explanation from the Secret Service for the lost texts was because of software upgrades, the inspector general told the panel, while at another point, the explanation was because of device replacements.

The inspector general also said that though the secret service opted to have his office do a review of the agency’s response to the Capitol attack in lieu of conducting after-action reports, it then stonewalled the review by slow-walking production of materials.

After the inspector general raised his complaints, he then discussed the feasibility of reconstructing the texts. But the issues so alarmed the select committee that the panel moved hours later to subpoena the Secret Service, according to participants at the briefing.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/16/secret-service-deleted-text-messages-january-6