The law enforcement agency, whose agents were implicated in the Jan. 6 investigation for shadowing and plotting President Donald Trump’s moves that day, is expected to share the decision with the panel in its Friday, Jan. 6 response. Subpoena for speeches and other records.
The agency, which made the decision after reviewing its communications databases over the past four days, will provide thousands of records, but all have previously been shared with agency oversight and congressional committees, the senior official said. None are expected to shed new light on key matters the committee is investigating, including the account of a senior White House aide who briefed the committee on Jan. 6 on whether Trump assaulted a Secret Service agent.
Many of its agents’ cellphone texts were permanently purged starting in mid-January 2021, and Secret Service officials said it was the result of an agency-wide reset and replacement of employees’ phones that began planning months earlier. Secret Service agents who protect the president, vice president and other senior government leaders were instructed to upload old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset, but many agents did not do so, the senior official said. have done
As a result, valuable evidence — directly related to Trump or Jan. The real-time communications and reactions of agents who helped coordinate his plans before and after the 6th — are unlikely to ever be recovered, two people familiar with the Secret Service communications system said. They requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters without agency approval.
The House Select Committee, which is investigating the January 6, 2021 infiltration of Trump supporters into the US capital, issued a subpoena to the US Secret Service on Friday, seeking related phone, activity reports and other records.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General elevated the panel’s investigation last week, saying the Secret Service destroyed the Jan. 5 and 6 texts after his office requested them as part of its own investigation.
DHS Inspector General Joseph Gaffari, a Trump appointee, briefed members of the House Select Committee on Friday after sending a letter to lawmakers last week informing them of the missing text messages. He also said DHS officials were slow to turn over the information he requested, which Homeland Security officials have denied.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said the agency did not delete the text messages maliciously, and that the Secret Service lost some data after a previously planned agency-wide replacement of employee phones. The replacement began a month before the inspector general’s office made its request, he said last week.
Guglielmi acknowledged that some data on the phones was lost in the transfer, but insisted that “no letters” were missing that the OIG was looking for.
Committee Chairman Benny G. Thompson (D-Miss.) signaled that the subpoena could resolve discrepancies in accounts between the OIG and the Secret Service, which falls under DHS.
The text messages could provide the panel with more details about the actions of Secret Service agents and the former president during the attack on the Capitol.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified during the hearing last month that an agent told her that Trump physically assaulted a Secret Service agent, knowing they were armed and wanted to lead the mob from the Ellipse to the Capitol. He informed him that he could not go to the Capitol. She did not see the alleged episode.
The Secret Service’s text messages have become a new focal point of the Jan. 6 congressional hearings because they could provide insight into the agency’s actions on the day of the uprising and possibly into Trump’s actions. Last month a former White House aide told the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol that Trump had been warned by the Secret Service on the morning of January 6 that his supporters were armed but insisted they were allowed to enter his rally on the Ellipse. with their weapons.
Trump has indicated to several White House aides that he wants to take the crowd to the Capitol and that his supporters are right to chant about the execution of Vice President Mike Pence, all evidence that helps describe his mood and what he wants to happen. Capital on that day.
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