Free Republic

Senior leaders at the Secret Service reportedly confiscated the cellphones of 24 agents who were involved with the Jan. 6, 2021, response and delivered the phones to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inspector general. A source familiar confirmed to The Hill that the phones were handed to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s office after a July 19 letter was sent to the agency from DHS investigators indicating he had begun a criminal probe. NBC News first reported the development.

Why the subterfuge? What might those texts reveal? Before and during Donald Trump’s time in the White House, powerful federal agencies aligned to sabotage his candidacy and then his presidency. Once-trusted entities such as the FBI, the intelligence community, and even parts of the U.S. military have burned their credibility by abandoning their missions to instead try to end Trump’s political career. Does this include the Secret Service? Unfortunately, the scandal over deleted texts related to January 6 demands the question. Last month, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that houses the Secret Service, officially...

*It's still unclear if the messages were deleted intentionally or by accident.* The Secret Service deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, after an internal watchdog requested them as part of a review of the department’s handling of last year’s Capitol riot, the watchdog said this week. A letter sent Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General to the heads of the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, which was obtained by ABC News, said the messages were deleted “as part of a device-replacement program” despite the inspector general requesting such communications. "First, the Department notified...

The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified lawmakers that the U.S. Secret Service had deleted text messages on Jan. 5, 2021 and on the day of the Capitol riot itself after they had been formally requested by investigators. DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote in a letter addressed to House and Senate Homeland Security committees, which was given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol rioting, that text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 had been “erased as part of a device-replacement program,” according to a copy of the letter...