A letter given to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol states that the U.S. Secret Service erased text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021 after they had been requested by officials overseeing the investigation into Jan. 6, along with the agency's response to the U.S. Capitol attack.
A letter handed over to the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6, and published by CNN, says that the messages on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021 were erased as part of a "device-replacement program."
The letter says, "The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications from the USSS, as part of" an evaluation of events "at the Capitol on January 6."
The Office of Inspector General said that there were weeks-long delays in obtaining records, and said that confusion was created over whether all of the records had been handed over.
The Secret Service said late Thursday that these messages were not deleted intentionally. The agency said the messages were lost in a pre-planned data migration project.
The Secret Service also denied allegations that it is not cooperating with the Inspector General.
