The US Homeland Security Department’s watchdog has opened an investigation into the loss of Secret Service text messages from the days around the January 6 attack on the Capitol last year.
The Inspector General of Homeland Security is conducting the inquiry and has told the Secret Service to stop its own internal investigation, a source said.
That further complicates the work of the House’s January 6 committee, which is wrapping up a series of televised hearings with a prime-time session on Thursday.
The committee is seeking missing text messages from 24 Secret Service employees related to January 5 and the day of the Capitol attack.
House January 6 panel chairman Bennie Thompson and vice chairwoman Liz Cheney issued a statement on Wednesday saying “every effort” must be made by the Secret Service to retrieve what the agency claims were inadvertently erased texts during an equipment upgrade that began on January 27, 2021.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that the agency received the Inspector General’s letter on the topic and told the House committee.
If investigators find evidence a crime was committed, the matter is typically referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. The Homeland Security investigation was earlier reported by NBC.
The committee has subpoenaed the texts for clues as to what happened that day, including reports of former president Donald Trump being blocked by agents from accompanying his supporters to the Capitol.
The texts could provide insight into that episode and security concerns surrounding then-vice president Mike Pence, who had gone to the Capitol to preside over the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
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'There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonour will remain.' Congresswoman and January 6 committee vice chairwoman Liz Cheney to Republican colleagues who have defended Mr Trump's claims of election fraud. AFP -
'January 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup - a brazen attempt, as one rioter put it shortly after January 6 - to overthrow the government' Committee chairman Bennie Thompson. EPA -
Mr Trump 'was willing to sacrifice our republic to prolong his presidency. I can imagine no more dishonourable acts by a president.' Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. AFP -
Donald Trump had this 'arsenal of allegations. I went through them piece by piece to say, no, they were not true'. Former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue. EPA -
'There were no votes to find.' Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Donald Trump asked him and his deputy, Gabriel Sterling, to 'find 11,780' votes that could flip Georgia in the president's favour. AFP -
Competing against Donald Trump’s lies was like a 'shovel trying to empty the ocean'. Gabriel Sterling, Georgia Secretary of State chief operating officer. AFP -
'As an American, I was disgusted.' 'It was unpatriotic, it was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.' Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, speaking about the insurrection. AFP -
'I told him (Donald Trump) that the stuff his people were shovelling out to the public was bull***t.' Former attorney general William Barr. AP -
'I respect attorney general Barr. So, I accepted what he was saying.' Ivanka Trump, former White House senior adviser. AP -
'We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.' Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. Reuters -
Police release tear gas into a crowd of pro-Trump protesters outside the Capitol. Reuters -
An explosion caused by a police flash-bang munition. Reuters -
Tear gas is released into a mob of January 6 rioters. Reuters -
Pro-Trump protesters storm into the US Capitol. Reuters -
Trump supporters at a rally in Washington, January 6. AP -
In this January 6, 2021 photo, people march with those who say they are members of the Proud Boys to a rally in Washington in support of Donald Trump. AP
Mr Guglielmi said the Secret Service would "conduct a thorough legal review to ensure we are fully co-operative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other".
The agency has denied wrongdoing and said some data was lost when it reset its mobile phones to factory settings in January 2021, before the Inspector General’s inspection began the next month.
On Tuesday, the keeper of federal records asked the Secret Service to determine whether any text messages by agents around the time of the attack were improperly deleted.
The National Archives and Records Administration said in a letter to the agency that it must submit a report within 30 days, documenting what occurred.
