DHS Inspector General Launches Criminal Probe Into Secret Service Text Deletions

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General has opened a criminal investigation into the Secret Service’s destruction of text messages sent the day of and before the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

“This is to notify you that the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General has an ongoing investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the collection and preservation of evidence by the United States Secret Service as it relates to the events of January 6, 2021,” DHS Deputy Inspector General Gladys Ayala wrote in a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray on Wednesday night.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint earlier this week asking the U.S. Justice Department to launch “an immediate and full investigation into whether Secret Service employees willfully destroyed federal records,” welcomed news of the inspector general’s criminal probe.

While the Secret Service has claimed that texts from last January 5 and 6 were erased as “part of a device replacement program,” the inspector general has emphasized that the messages were deleted after DHS oversight officials requested them to aid their assessment of the deadly insurrection incited by former President Donald Trump.

The Secret Service acknowledged its receipt of the inspector general’s letter, which comes as the House committee investigating the January 6 attack is attempting to recover the agency’s missing electronic communications—with limited success so far.

A Secret Service official said the letter “raises some legal complexities,” NBC News reported Thursday after speaking with two unnamed sources.

While the inspector general has asked the Secret Service to cease all internal inquires amid the watchdog’s criminal probe, the agency also faces a subpoena from the House January 6 committee and a request for information from the National Archives.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.