Report: Secret Service Uncovered Traces of Missing Jan. 6 Texts From Phones of 10 Officials
© AP Photo / Julia Nikhinson
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The inspector general for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is probing allegations that 24 Secret Service officials deleted text messages relevant to the House select committee’s Capitol riot investigation. Robert Engel, the agent in charge of then-President Trump’s security detail, and another agent have since retained private counsel.
As US lawmakers and the DHS’ inspector general seek to make sense of the missing text messages, the US Secret Service has been forced to abandon its own internal probe, which was examining the phones of at least 10 personnel whose phones contained metadata showing messages sent and received around the January 6, 2021, insurrection were not retained, according to two sources who spoke with CNN this week.
Investigators assigned to the internal probe were reportedly seeking to determine whether the content of the messages from the 10 personnel in question was personal or subject to government record.
In a recent statement to the committee probing January 6, the federal law enforcement agency stated the deletions likely occurred during a system migration that occurred on January 27, 2021. This amended a previous statement claiming none of the 24 individuals had phones impacted by the migration.
“We are currently unaware of any text messages issued by Secret Service employees between Dec. 7, 2020 and Jan. 8, 2021 requested by OIG that were not retained as part of the Intune migration,” the Secret Service told the congressional panel.
Communication records from around January 6, 2021, were initially requested by the DHS’ inspector general in June 2021.
Jeffrey Robinson, co-author of “Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service,” told Newsweek the discipline in the federal law enforcement agency is reflective of the leadership.
"You hear their excuses. Their excuses changed 12 times. 'Oh, it was part of a normal thing replacing phones' and then no, 'it was a normal thing doing this and that,' but it's only January 6," Robinson said. "If they were gonna change phones and texts were lost, why weren't they lost from September 23? Why was it January 6?”
Following Thursday’s public hearing, January 6 panelists confirmed to reporters that some of the officials tied to the congressional subpoena have hired their own lawyers.
“Some of the officers said that they would be coming and talking under oath,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), one of nine panelists. “They have not come in, and they recently retained private counsel, which is unusual but they have a right to do that.”
Two of the officers were identified as Robert Engel, the former head of Trump’s security detail, and Tony Ornato, the Trump aide and Secret Service agent who allegedly told former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson that Trump lunged at his security detail after being informed he would not be taken to the US Capitol to “protest” with his supporters on January 6, 2021.
“Tony described him as being irate,” Hutchinson testified during a public congressional hearing late last month. “The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f**king president, take me up to the Capitol now.’”
Soon after, Trump reached toward the front of the vehicle, attempting to grab the steering wheel until his arm was grabbed by Engel, she said, noting that the official told Trump, “Sir you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol.”
“Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson testified.
An irate Trump lunged at the steering wheel and attacked his head of security when told that he would not be going to the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/qUolyiH8Rq
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 28, 2022
The driver of Trump’s presidential vehicle has also retained private counsel.
On Friday, Secret Service Director James Murray released a statement reiterating his agency’s commitment to support the work of the House select committee, highlighting that personnel have been instructed “to cooperate fully and completely.”
“We have provided thousands of documents, operationally sensitive radio transmissions and access to Secret Service employees,” Murray wrote. “We will continue to cooperate fully with the Committee and any other investigative body and remain committed to helping ensure that another such lawless and violent assault on our Constitutional process never takes place again.”
