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Criminal Probe Launched Into Secret Service’s Vanishing Jan. 6 Texts

The Department of Homeland Security ordered the Secret Service to stop its internal investigations Wednesday while a criminal investigation is underway.

The saga of the missing Secret Service texts has now become a criminal investigation. NBC News reports that the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General is looking into the deletion of crucial Jan. 6 texts, informing the Secret Service on Wednesday night that it must hit pause on its own internal probe. In a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray Thursday, Inspector General Gladys Ayala ordered the agency to stop investigating and collecting evidence regarding the text messages. The messages between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, which the Secret Service has maintained were deleted accidentally, could hold sensitive information about agents’ real-time reactions and planning surrounding Trump’s whereabouts during the Capitol riot. Ayala wrote that the Secret Service can no longer interview witnesses, collect devices, or do anything else that could obstruct a criminal investigation.