The source added that key Secret Service personnel did not realize the data was permanently lost until after the data migration was complete and mistakenly believed the data had been backed up. In July 2021, inspectors general told DHS they were no longer looking into Secret Service text messages, according to two sources. Cuffari’s office then reopened its investigation in December 2021. The Washington Post first reported the lost messages from Wolf and Cuccinelli, who were lost in a “reset” of their government phones when they left their jobs in January 2021 in preparation for the new Biden administration, according to the Post. The missing messages burst into public view earlier this month when Cuffari sent a letter to congressional committees saying the Secret Service texts had been redacted, setting off the frenetic chain of events that has now sparked a criminal investigation and demanded answers from Congress. . Cuffari’s letter came after Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the committee on Jan. 6 about an angry confrontation between former President Donald Trump and his Secret Service on Jan. 6, 2021. The committee and Cuffari are both interested in the texts because they could shed light on the Secret Service’s Jan. 6 response.

Conflicting requests for information

Amid the heightened scrutiny, the Secret Service has scaled back its cooperation with the Jan. 6 panel on the missing texts, two sources tell CNN. Secret Service lawyers, along with DHS lawyers, are working to determine how to respond to and prioritize three conflicting requests for information about the missing records from the House Select Committee, the National Archives and the inspector general of DHS. The agency told the committee last week by phone about the need to end the cooperation ahead of the committee’s July 21 hearing, one of the sources said. The committee had subpoenaed the agency on July 15 for text messages and other records around January 6. On July 20, Cuffari’s office, which operates independently of DHS, told the agency to stop investigating the missing records, saying it could interfere with the inspector general’s own investigation, which it wrote was a “ongoing criminal investigation”. In addition to the committee’s Jan. 6 subpoena, the National Archives separately asked the Secret Service to turn over relevant records and explain what might have happened to any deleted text messages. Sources familiar with the situation said they were unsure how long it would take for Secret Service lawyers to determine whether to share records with the committee — and whether that would be resolved within days or take weeks.
A source tells CNN that the Secret Service continues to give records from past requests to the commission, but acknowledged that the agency has stopped any new investigative work to find the content of the lost text messages. In a statement to CNN, a Secret Service spokesman said the agency “will continue our unwavering cooperation with the Select Committee and other investigations.” Reps. Zoe Lofgren of California and Elaine Luria of Virginia, who serve on the Jan. 6 committee, both said publicly that the Secret Service turned over documents this week. And the committee’s chairman, Rep. Benny Thompson, D-Mississippi, said Thursday that the committee received “many hundreds of thousands” of exhibits from the Secret Service two days ago. Thompson said the committee is still reviewing the material and does not know if it contains new text messages. When Cuffari met with the committee two weeks ago, Thompson said, he did not tell the committee that the possible deletion of Secret Service text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, was under criminal investigation. Thompson said he’s still waiting to see how the criminal investigation affects the information the commission may receive, but he doesn’t think the criminal investigation affects the commission’s investigation at this point. “The understanding of the process is that if you’re involved in a criminal thing, that particular information you can’t share,” Thompson said. “As far as where the breaks are in terms of the criminal investigation, I guess we’ll just have to see at some point.” Neither DHS nor the DHS Office of Inspector General responded to a request for comment.

Congress calls for withdrawal

The potential impasse between the Secret Service and the Jan. 6 committee comes after Thompson called on Cuffari to recuse himself from the investigation into the possible deletion of text messages. Thompson and House Speaker Carolyn Maloney sent a letter to Cuffari on Tuesday saying his failure to inform Congress that the Secret Service had not provided records “raised serious doubts about his independence and his ability to effectively conduct such a important research”. Asked Thursday if Cuffari misled the committee, Thompson said, “It appears the IG has a potential problem with the conduct of their investigation.” In a sign of the breakdown in communication between congressional Democrats and Cuffari, the House Homeland Security Committee, which Thompson also chairs, was never told by the inspector general that he was conducting a criminal investigation into Secret Service text messages, according to a known source. with the subject. The missing messages burst into public view this month when the inspector general disclosed the matter in a letter to Congress. The letter came after Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the committee about an angry confrontation between Trump and his Secret Service details on January 6.

The schedule is taking shape

The issue of possible missing text messages dates back to January 2021, when the Secret Service began a previously planned transfer of phone data. On January 16, 2021, before the data transfer occurred, the chairs of four House committees sent a letter to DHS and other relevant agencies instructing them to preserve records related to January 6. While the Secret Service is part of DHS, it remains unclear whether the agency received the guidance, which it did not specifically say. A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the Secret Service spent about eight hours last week looking for the alert but never found it.
Nine days after the letter was sent, the Secret Service sent a reminder to employees that a data migration would wipe out employees’ phones. The January 25, 2021 notice to employees made it clear that employees were responsible for storing records. The Secret Service began the data transfer two days later, on January 27. A source told CNN that the Secret Service realized too late that the data was permanently deleted. The service tried to retrieve lost text messages from its carrier but was unable to do so, the source said. In June 2021, Cuffari requested records and texts from the 24 Secret Service agents involved in related actions on January 6. CNN has previously reported that Trump and Pence’s security chiefs are among the 24 people. But in July 2021, a deputy inspector general told the Department of Homeland Security that the agency was no longer looking for the text messages from the Secret Service, according to two sources. Sources told CNN the Secret Service believed the matter was over at that point. However, the inspector general reopened his investigation into the text messages in December 2021, a source said.

Skepticism is growing

While Democratic committee chairs have questioned whether Cuffari, who was appointed by Trump in 2019, could lead the Secret Service investigation, House lawmakers on the select committee are also suspicious of how the Secret Service could have allowed deleting messages after January. 6 — noting that several congressional committees had requested agent records before a phone relocation led to their possible deletion. “Consider me a skeptic,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat on the panel, said on CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday. Raskin said he doesn’t believe “for one minute” that the Secret Service can’t find the texts agents made on Jan. 6.
CNN reported last week that the Secret Service had identified 10 people with metadata showing the text messages were sent or received around Jan. 6, and the agency was trying to determine whether the content contained relevant information that should have been withheld. The inspector general’s letter last week notifying the Secret Service of the potential criminal investigation halted those efforts. The Secret Service in its statement acknowledging the letter suggested it may not be able to comply with both the inspector general’s directive and the committee’s subpoena. The agency said it would “conduct a thorough legal review to ensure that we are fully cooperative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other.”