Jan. 6 panel says Secret Service may have violated law with 'erased' text messages
The Secret Service may have violated federal records laws by failing to preserve data – including information related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack – after it had been requested by investigators, the House committee investigating the riot said Wednesday.
The condemnation came after the panel subpoenaed the agency following an allegation from the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, that it had “erased” the texts during a device replacement program.
“We have concerns about a system migration that we have been told resulted in the erasure of Secret Service cell phone data,” Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a joint statement.
“The U.S. Secret Service system migration process went forward on January 27, 2021, just three weeks after the attack on the Capitol in which the Vice President of the United States while under the protection of the Secret Service, was steps from a violent mob hunting for him. Four House committees had already sought these critical records from the Department of Homeland Security before the records were apparently lost,” they added.
“Additionally, the procedure for preserving content prior to this purge appears to have been contrary to federal records retention requirements and may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act.”
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Source: TEST FEED1
