INTO THE ETHER

Pentagon Conveniently Wiped Jan. 6 Texts From Ex-Officials’ Phones

Phones belonging to outgoing officials were wiped entirely when Trump left office, the Pentagon revealed in a court filing.

It wasn’t just the Secret Service that seems to have lost important text messages pertaining to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. According to a new court filing in a FOIA lawsuit filed by nonprofit American Oversight, the Pentagon wiped outgoing officials’ phones when Trump left office, eliminating evidence that could have helped paint a clearer picture of the government response that day as well as Trump’s reactions. American Oversight sued the Pentagon and Army to get Jan. 6 related-texts from several officials, including former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, particularly as they may have had insight into the deployment of the National Guard. “It’s just astounding to believe that the agency did not understand the importance of preserving its records—particularly [with regards] to the top officials that might have captured: what they were doing, when they were doing it, why they were doing it on that day,” said Heather Sawyer, the nonprofit’s executive director.