The Secret Service was accused of deleting an undetermined number of text messages covering the period between January 5 and 6, 2021. After the Homeland Security Inspector General ordered that all text messages be kept, the Secret Service was accused of deleting undetermined numbers of text messages.
The Intercept reviewed a January 6th Committee letter and discovered that the Secret Service erased text messages from January 5th to January 6th, 2021. The Secret Service claims that the text messages were lost because of a device replacement program, but the letter says that it occurred after oversight officials requested electronic communications.
The Office of Inspector General warns that critical evidence such as Secret Service’s electronic communications records may not be accessible. Officials from the department denied the request for records of electronic communications between the Secret Service and January 5th-2021. According to them, records should be reviewed first by DHS lawyers. This delayed the process, making it uncertain if Secret Service records would ever be produced.
Based on The Intercept’s “scoop”, this is how The New York Times frames the story.
The New York Times received a letter from the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security. This is the parent agency of the Secret Service. According to him, many text messages were deleted by agents as part of a program that would replace their devices. This was despite Jan. 6 inspector general asking for them.
The inspector general’s findings were disputed by the Secret Service, which issued a statement. The Secret Service stated that it had “lost” data “from some phones” during a planned three-month “system migration” in January 2021. It maintained, however, that it did not lose any relevant texts during the migration.
What’s the story behind this story, That is the question to ask when something like this happens.
Cassidy Hutchinson was a former White House aide and is now a Trump loyalist. She testified that Trump had challenged a Secret Service agent for the control of the presidential limousine’s steering wheels. Secret Service agents quickly discredited Hutchinson’s perjurious testimony. She claimed that Trump had thrown food at a wall and other absurdities. The diagram of the limousine shows that access to the driver’s compartment is impossible from the passenger’s. This could be because Hutchinson didn’t have the defense or resources.
The Intercept and the New York Times stories have many flaws.
If there aren’t text messages, the Democrats can spin a story about a conspiracy by the Secret Service protecting President Trump.
Three events that are not connected by media and Democrats are being tried to be connected currently by the Democrats: January 6, replacement phones for the Secret Service, and Hutchinson’s testimony.
Personally, I don’t think any Secret Service employee would violate an order from IG for evidence preservation. Trump knew he was leaving office and they were aware of the storm brewing. Trump will then use the “attack on democracy” theme in his 2022 campaign.
