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Post by Admin on Jul 19, 2022 19:52:57 GMT
The National Archives and Records Administration is investigating the “alleged unauthorized deletion” of a large cache of text messages sent by Secret Service officials in the days surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. NARA said in a statement Tuesday it informed the Secret Service that under federal law, the agency had 30 days to submit a report about why the agency deleted the relevant text messages, which has roiled the Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation in recent days. The Secret Service on Tuesday was also due to respond to a subpoena from the select committee demanding access to the missing tranche of messages. The select panel’s subpoena was aimed at Secret Service Director James Murray, who’s retiring later this month. The agency said the deletion occurred as part of a broad phone upgrade process that began before any investigators had requested messages, and a spokesperson said Tuesday they would cooperate with the NARA request. “The United States Secret Service respects and supports the important role of the National Archives and Records Administration in ensuring preservation of government records,” Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a tweet. “They will have our full cooperation in this review.” The Department of Homeland Security inspector general, who is charged with overseeing the Secret Service, has criticized the agency’s handling of the matter and said some of the messages were deleted after he requested them in February 2021. The Homeland Security watchdog has also faulted the agency for having “significantly delayed” access to their records related to Jan. 6.
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Post by Admin on Jul 20, 2022 12:37:32 GMT
Georgia prosecutors say 16 fake Trump electors are targets in criminal probe 14,007 views Jul 20, 2022 The Atlanta-area prosecutors scrutinizing former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia said Tuesday that all 16 of the "fake electors" who participated in a plan to subvert the Electoral College are now targets of an ongoing criminal investigation. #CNN #News
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Post by Admin on Jul 21, 2022 18:41:24 GMT
The only text message the Secret Service turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was a plea from then-Capitol Police officer Steven Sund asking for help.
Lawmakers on the panel are increasingly confused and irritated by the lack of messages from the Secret Service after it subpoenaed the records following a letter from a government watchdog indicating that messages had been “erased” during a device replacement program.
“That’s all that we have,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) told The Hill.
A source close to the Secret Service previously told The Hill that Sund had contacted the Secret Service on Jan. 6 requesting assistance.
“That message was captured and it was turned over,” the source said.
The Secret Service has denied that it maliciously deleted any text messages but has said some data was lost during a system migration.
Agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Secret Service policy prohibits using text messages due to security concerns, but that the initial 20 agents whose records were requested did not have phones impacted by the migration.
He said there were no “hidden messages” the agency was concealing or anything else officials were “holding out” from the panel.
Lawmakers on the panel have said they are hopeful the Secret Service will be able to recover the information from the phones even though they were wiped.
“My hope is that the Secret Service will use their forensic data capabilities to recapture the texts that we have requested and comply with the subpoena. I think the information they’ve provided us to date leaves a lot of questions regarding their process for data retention,” Murphy said.
But they’ve grown increasingly frustrated with Secret Service’s explanation around why its records weren’t fully preserved in the days after Jan. 6.
“We were just updated and it remains a big mystery to me,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters Wednesday
He added that the Secret Service’s explanation stretches the outer limits of plausibility.
“I smell a rat,” he said. “That seems like an awfully strange coincidence for those text messages to be banished into oblivion on two days where there was also the most violent insurrection against the union in our history, after the Civil War.”
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Post by Admin on Jul 22, 2022 1:21:00 GMT
LIVE: Jan. 6 Committee Holds Public Hearing On 2021 Capitol Attack | NBC News
45,495 watching now Started streaming 110 minutes ago The public hearings held by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot will have witness testimony and video footage surrounding last year's attack on the Capitol.
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Post by Admin on Jul 22, 2022 16:23:02 GMT
Jan. 6 hearing focuses on Trump’s ‘187 minutes’ of inaction during attacks l GMA 34,488 views Jul 22, 2022 The panel detailed the 187 minutes that passed between President Donald Trump's speech at the Ellipse and his taped statement telling his supporters still storming the Capitol to leave.
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