In a letter sent to the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote that although his office had been notified that the texts were deleted as part of a device replacement program, the wiping of the devices was done at the request of electronic communications. “First, the Department informed us that several US Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, were deleted as part of a device replacement program. The USSS deleted these text messages after the OIG requested electronic communications records from the USSS, as part of the assessment of events on Capitol Hill on January 6,” Cuffari wrote in the letter. “Second, DHS staff have repeatedly told OIG inspectors that they were not allowed to provide records directly to OIG and that those records first had to be reviewed by DHS attorneys,” the letter continues. “This review led to weeks of delays in obtaining OIG records and created confusion about whether all the records had been created.” U.S. Secret Service spokesman Steve Kopek called “false the suggestion that the Secret Service deleted malicious text messages” at the request of the DHS Inspector General, in a statement issued late Thursday, adding that the agency is “fully cooperating with the OIG in every respect – be it interviews, documents, emails or texts.” “First, in January 2021, prior to the initiation of any OIG inspection of this matter, USSS began resetting its cell phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration. The phones were lost,” the statement continued. “DHS OIG requested electronic communications for the first time on February 26, 2021, after the relocation had begun. The Secret Service notified DHS OIG of the loss of data on some phones, but confirmed to OIG that none of the messages it was seeking had been lost in immigration”. According to Kopek, the inspector general’s insistence that his employees were not granted “adequate and timely access to material due to legal review” has been “repeatedly and publicly discredited” in previous reports to Congress. “It is unclear why the OIG is raising this issue again,” he added. But the agency did not dispute the inspector general’s claim that some of the messages from USSS agents were deleted during the migration. The agency said the Secret Service turned over 786,176 unredacted emails and 7,678 Microsoft Teams chat messages to the DHS inspector general, all relating to conversations and operational details about Jan. 6 and the preparations leading up to it. These messages include text messages from the US Capitol Police to the head of the Secret Service Uniformed Division requesting emergency assistance at the Capitol.
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol declined to comment. The DHS inspector general’s office did not immediately respond to a request from CBS News. “We need to get to the bottom of whether the Secret Service destroyed federal records or the Department of Homeland Security obstructed oversight,” said Sen. Gary Peters, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “The DHS Inspector General needs these records to conduct his independent oversight, and the public deserves a full picture of what happened on January 6th. I will be learning more from the DHS Inspector General about these allegations.” Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said he was “deeply concerned” about the letter in a statement to CBS News. “It is important that the Department be transparent with its inspector general, Congress and the American public,” Portman added. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chairs both the House Homeland Security and Jan. 6 committees, said the former “will be made aware of this extremely troubling file destruction and will respond accordingly,” in a statement to CBS News. The news of the agency’s alleged efforts to wipe out the communications comes just a week after US Secret Service Director James Murray announced his departure from his post. The 32-year veteran of the federal government plans to depart at the end of July. The letter does not indicate whether the top DHS watchdog believes the electronic communications were intentionally deleted in an effort to avoid transparency, but it adds to uncertainty about the Secret Service’s response to the Jan. 6 uprising. Last month, White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson described former President Trump’s desire to go to Capitol Hill with supporters while Congress was in joint session to count ballots during a Jan. 6 committee hearing. Hutchinson testified that she spoke with White House deputy chief of staff for operations Tony Ornato in a room with Robert Engel, the Secret Service special agent in charge on January 6. According to Hutchinson, during the meeting, Ornato relayed that the president became “furious” in his vehicle when he was told he could not go to the Capitol. He said something to the effect of ‘I’m the president of the couple, take me to the Capitol now,’” Hutchinson said. The Intercept was the first to report the letter from the DHS inspector general. When told he had to return to the West Wing, Trump reached to the front of the vehicle to grab the steering wheel, prompting Engel to grab his hand, Hutchinson said Ornato told her. However, a source close to the Secret Service confirmed to CBS News that Engel and the driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was physically assaulted or assaulted by Trump and that the former president never pulled the wheel of the vehicle. After Hutchinson’s testimony, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency was “cooperating” with the committee and would “continue to do so, including responding to the records … about the new allegations” that emerged at the hearing.

Nicole Sganga

CBS News reporter covering homeland security and justice.