Jan. 6 committee member calls possible loss of Secret Service texts ‘quite crazy’

Indications that Secret Service agents deleted text messages around Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, are “quite crazy,” a member of the special House committee investigating the siege said Sunday.

The committee subpoenaed the Secret Service last week for text messages said to have been erased as part of lawmakers’ efforts to uncover former President Donald Trump’s actions during the assault on the Capitol.

“In the very least, it is quite crazy that the Secret Service would actually end up deleting anything related to one of the more infamous days in American history, particularly when it comes to the role of the Secret Service,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Secret Service agents got rid of texts between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 “as part of a device-replacement program,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told the committee last week.

The Secret Service says it already shared information requested by the panel and was following proper procedures to maintain its devices.

The head of the special House panel, Mississippi Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, has said he wants the missing texts by Tuesday.

Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, said he wasn’t sure whether the texts still exist.

“I think we’re going to know more Tuesday,” he said.

Another committee member, Rep. Elaine Luria, said the messages are invaluable to the investigation and she hoped they were still in existence.

“An agency that was such a key part of a critical event in our history — one would assume they have done everything possible to preserve those records, to analyze them, to determine what kind of things went right or went wrong that day,” the Virginia Democrat said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

With News Wire Services