DHS inspector general opens criminal probe into deleted Secret Service texts about:blank

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DHS inspector general opens criminal probe into deleted Secret Service texts
Luke Barr, Pierre Thomas ⋮ ⋮ 22/07/2022

The texts were were from around the time of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

July 22, 2022, 2:57 AM

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New questions about deleted Secret Service texts arise ahead of Jan. 6 hearing

ABC News' Jon Karl has the latest on the upcoming primetime hearing from the January 6th committee on Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has turned the inquiry into the Secret Service deleted text messages into a criminal
investigation, three sources familiar with the situation confirmed to ABC News Thursday.

The inspector general sent a letter to the Secret Service Wednesday night telling the agency to halt any internal investigations until the criminal probe has
been wrapped up.

The inspector general's office told ABC News it doesn't comment on ongoing probes.

"Consistent with Attorney General guidelines, DHS OIG neither confirms nor denies information about our investigations," an OIG spokesperson said.

News of the probe came hours before the House Jan. 6 committee was set to hold a prime-time hearing at which it was expected the deleted texts would
be addressed, amid questions about they could shed light on the actions of then-President Donald Trump.

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DHS inspector general opens criminal probe into deleted Secret Service texts about:blank

A video of then-President Donald Trump speaking is displayed as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
continues to reveal its findings of a yea...Show more ---

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

MORE: Secret Service provides Jan. 6 committee single text exchange from that day

It is unclear whether this criminal investigation would result in a referral to the Justice department but the inspector general wants the Secret Service to halt
its internal review.

"The Secret Service is in receipt of the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's letter," a Secret Service spokesperson told ABC News in a
statement. "We have informed the January 6th Select Committee of the Inspector General's request and will conduct a thorough legal review to ensure we
are fully cooperative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other."

MORE: Prime-time Jan. 6 hearing to focus on Trump's riot response, with new testimony and
evidence

The Secret Service has said it has been cooperating with a House Jan. 6 committee subpoena and a National Archives and Records Administration
inquiry, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The probe was first reported by NBC News.

The agency provided a single text exchange to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigating the agency's record-keeping,
according to an agency letter to the House Jan. 6 committee obtained by ABC News on Wednesday, and the Jan. 6 committee suggested they broke
federal records keeping laws.

"Four House committees had already sought these critical records from the Department of Homeland Security before the records were apparently lost," the
committee said in statement. "Additionally, the procedure for preserving content prior to this purge appears to have been contrary to federal records
retention requirements and may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act."

In December, the agency sent out communications to employees on how to upload digital files on their local devices if they are government records,
according to a source familiar with the Secret Service migration process.

If the files were specific to the definition, employees were instructed to upload them prior to the migration, and the source said employees that did not do
that, the content was likely lost when the phones were factory reset to implement the new wireless system. Individuals did not manually go on to the
devices and delete content. That was done remotely by the agency, the source said.

There was also a second notification in early January advising employees prior to the start of the migration which occurred later in the month, the source
said.

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