Capitol attack: US Secret Service told to hold internal probe over ‘unauthorised’ deletion of messages
US Secret Service guarding president's cavalry
The US National Archives has asked the Secret Service, the agency that is responsible for the protection of the president, to conduct an internal probe over “the potential unauthorised deletion” of agency text messages sent and received during the last year’s Jan 6 attack on the US Capitol.
In a statement on Tuesday, the National Archives said that the Secret Service has been informed under federal law that it has to submit the probe report within 30 days with a detailed explain nation as to why the agency deleted the relevant text messages, reports Politico.
It comes days after the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, the watchdog for the Secret Service, informed Congress at a Jan 6 hearing that he was told that the texts were no longer in existence when he asked them to submit a copy of it.
“This report must include a complete description of the records affected…a statement of the exact circumstances surrounding the deletion of messages [and] all agency actions taken to salvage, retrieve, or reconstruct the records,” the National Archives said.
Acknowledging the National Archives’ order, the Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, in a statement responded that the agency “respects and supports the important role of the National Archives and Records Administration in ensuring the preservation of government records. They will have our full cooperation in this review.”
The Secret Service maintains that data on some phones were lost as part of a pre-planned “system migration” in January 2021.
In an interview to AP news agency earlier, the Secret Service said that “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 OIG in every respect — whether it be interviews, documents, emails, or texts,” Secret Service spokesman Guglielmi said.
A key witness and former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, while testifying before the US House committing conducting the probe alleged that Donald Trump called for his Secret Service officials to remove magnetometers at an Ellipse rally to protest the election results so that armed supporters could approach the stage.
(With inputs from agencies)
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