The Secret Service may have deleted text messages from January 5 and January 6, 2021, according to a letter sent to the January 6 committee and viewed by The Intercept.
The letter was sent from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to the House and Senate homeland security committees. It claims that the Secret Service deleted the messages shortly after receiving a request from the Inspector General to hand over the electronic communications.
The Secret Service falls under the Department of Homeland Security and is therefore beholden to requests from the Inspector General. The Secret Service previously claimed that the text messages were accidentally deleted during a device exchange program, but the letter puts those claims in doubt.
The Secret Service did not respond to requests for comment from The Intercept. It is also not clear if all the text messages from those two days were deleted or if only some were.
During the January 6 hearings, it had previously been revealed that the Secret Service attempted to move Pence away from the Capitol as pro-Donald Trump rioters stormed the building. Pence refused their recommendation, staying to certify the results. Had he allowed himself to be taken away, the election results would not have been certified and it would have put the United States into a constitutional crisis it has not previously faced.
“People need to understand that if Pence had listened to the Secret Service and fled the Capitol, this could have turned out a whole lot worse,” a congressional official told The Intercept under the condition of anonymity. “It could have been a successful coup, not just an attempted one.”
Tony Ornato, a Secret Service agent who Trump appointed to be the White House Chief of Staff, reportedly told Pence’s national security adviser Keith Kellogg that he planned to move Pence to Andrews Airforce Base in Maryland. Kellogg told Ornato that he cannot do that.
“Leave him where he’s at. He’s got a job to do. I know you guys too well. You’ll fly him to Alaska if you have a chance. Don’t do it.”
Ornato has denied that account. He also denied parts of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony. The former White House aide testified that Trump attempted to convince the Secret Service to drive him to the site of the riot on January 6, and when they refused he lunged at the wheel, attempting to force the issue.
Ornato currently remains at his post as the assistant director of the Secret Service Office of Training.