HAND ’EM OVER

Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Secret Service for Records on ‘Erased’ Texts

The move comes a day after lawmakers were told agents with the Secret Service had erased messages following an oversight request.

The Jan. 6 Committee has subpoenaed the Secret Service for records regarding text messages from the day of the deadly Capitol riot and the day beforehand, citing reports that some of them were “erased.” The move comes a day after the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog told lawmakers agents with the Secret Service had erased messages following an oversight request. In a letter sent Friday, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, called on Secret Service Director James Murray to produce “information about Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021 that were reportedly erased.” Thompson, who called the scrubbed text messages “extraordinarily troubling,” noted that the relevant text messages should still be available, as the Secret Service said none of the texts sought in the original oversight request had been lost in the erasure that was ostensibly part of a “device-replacement program.”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Allison QuinnNews Editor

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.