According to a document handed to the House select committee investigating the insurgency, the US Secret Service destroyed text communications from January 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after they were sought by oversight officials examining the agency's reaction to the US Capitol disturbance.
As per the letter, which was initially sent to the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, After the watchdog requested data relating to the agency's electronic communications, the messages were wiped from the system as part of a device-replacement program.
Jan.6 Committee Receives Letter From Watchdog
Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson heads both the House Homeland Security and January 6 committees. He confirmed receiving the letter in a statement Thursday evening.
While the letter does not specify whether the DHS monitor believes the text conversations were deleted on purpose or for criminal purposes, the event adds to mounting concerns about the Secret Service's reaction to the US Capitol attack.
The Secret Service has been in the limelight because witnesses said former President Donald Trump furiously ordered that his detail accompany him to the Capitol following his speech at the White House Ellipse, just before protestors broke into the building, as per CNN.
Inspector General Joseph Cuffari stated in his letter that the purpose of his letter was to provide lawmakers with a briefing on the "access issues." Since the shocking testimony of 25-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson, Donald Trump's final chief of staff, the involvement of Secret Service personnel in the events of January 6 has been under severe examination.
Hutchinson said he was informed Trump got violent with his security detail on January 6 after they refused to take him to the US Capitol after he called on supporters at the White House Ellipse to march there.
When agents objected, Hutchinson said that former Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato informed her that Trump "lunged" for the steering wheel and then for a Secret Service agent.
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Jan.6 Committee Investigation Continues
Ornato, according to many sources, opposes Hutchinson's testimony, but he has yet to do so officially under oath. The committee's members have subsequently stated that they have witnesses who corroborate the senior White House aide's testimony, though no specifics have been released, Daily Mail reported.
During a Jan. 6 Committee hearing, Hutchinson highlighted former President Trump's wish to go to the Capitol with his supporters while Congress was in a joint session tallying electoral ballots.
On Jan. 6, Hutchinson testified that she spoke with Tony Ornato, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, in a room with Robert Engel, the Secret Service special agent in charge. According to Hutchinson, Ornato stated at the meeting that the president grew irate in his vehicle when he was informed he couldn't drive to the Capitol. The letter from the DHS inspector general was originally reported by The Intercept.
When notified that he needed to return to the West Wing, Trump moved up to the front of the car to grasp the steering wheel, leading Engel to grab his arm, Hutchinson claimed. However, a source close to the Secret Service verified to CBS News that both Engel and the driver are willing to testify under oath that neither man was physically attacked or assaulted by Trump and that the former president never reached for the vehicle's steering wheel.
Guglielmi stated during Hutchinson's testimony that the agency has been working with the committee and will continue to do so, including by responding on the record addressing the new charges that appeared during the hearing, according to CBS News.
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