特勤局删除了2021年1月5日和6日的短信，此前一家内部监督机构要求他们作为对该部门处理去年国会大厦骚乱的审查的一部分，该监督机构本周表示。
美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)获得的国土安全部监察长办公室周三发给众议院和参议院国土安全委员会负责人的一封信称，尽管监察长要求进行此类沟通，但这些信息“作为设备更换计划的一部分”被删除。
“首先，该部门通知我们，作为设备更换计划的一部分，2021年1月5日和6日的许多美国特勤局短信被删除。在OIG要求USSS提供电子通信记录，作为我们对1月6日国会大厦事件评估的一部分后，USSS删除了这些短信，”总检察长约瑟夫·库法里写道。
“第二，DHS人员一再告诉OIG核查人员，他们不允许直接向OIG提供记录，这些记录必须首先经过DHS律师的审查，”库法里写道。“这一审查导致OIG在获取记录方面拖延了数周，并对是否所有记录都已提供产生了困惑。”
美国特勤局通讯主任安东尼·古列尔米在周四晚上的一份声明中表示，任何暗示特勤局故意删除短信的说法都是错误的。
“暗示特勤局在收到请求后恶意删除短信是错误的。事实上，特勤局一直在各个方面与国土安全部监察长办公室(DHS·OIG)充分合作——无论是采访、文件、电子邮件还是短信，”声明说。
声明继续说，特勤局“开始将其手机重置为工厂设置，作为预先计划的三个月系统迁移的一部分。在这个过程中，一些手机上的数据丢失了，”DHS·OIG在2021年2月26日第一次请求电子通信，当时迁移正在进行中。该机构补充说，OIG被告知某些数据丢失。
特勤局还驳斥了他们不配合DHS调查的说法。
“相反，DHS·OIG公司以前曾声称，由于律师审查，其雇员没有得到适当和及时的材料。DHS一再公开揭穿这一指控，包括在回应OIG向国会提交的上两份半年度报告。目前还不清楚为什么OIG再次提出这个问题，”声明说。
参议院国土安全委员会首席共和党人、俄亥俄州的罗布·波特曼表示，他对这封信“深感关切”。
“我深感关切的是，我收到了DHS监察主任的来信，信中记录了新闻部在向监察主任提供材料方面的延误，以及在监察主任提出要求后删除记录的情况。他在一份声明中说:“司法部对其监察长、国会和美国公众保持透明是至关重要的。”。
DHS尚未对此置评。
该委员会主席、密歇根州参议员加里·彼得斯对此表示赞同。
彼得斯在一份声明中说:“我们需要弄清楚，是特勤局销毁了联邦记录，还是国土安全部阻挠了监督。”“DHS监察长需要这些记录来进行独立监督，公众有权了解1月6日发生的事情的全貌。我将从DHS监察长那里了解更多有关这些指控的情况。”
目前还不清楚这些信息是被故意删除还是意外删除，尽管总检察长的信是在特勤局再次受到严密监视在调查暴动的众议院委员会举行听证会后。
最近的证词表明，前总统唐纳德·特朗普去年试图加入他的支持者从椭圆广场游行到国会大厦，但被特勤局阻止。该机构已表示，将在记录中对该证词做出回应。
Secret Service deleted texts from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, after watchdog sought records
The Secret Service deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, after an internal watchdog requested them as part of a review of the department’s handling of last year’s Capitol riot, the watchdog said this week.
A letter sent Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to the heads of the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees, which was obtained by ABC News, said the messages were deleted “as part of a device-replacement program” despite the inspector general requesting such communications.
"First, the Department notified us that many US Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, were erased as part of a device-replacement program. The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications from the USSS, as part of our evaluation of events at the Capitol on January 6," Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general, wrote.
"Second, DHS personnel have repeatedly told OIG inspectors that they were not permitted to provide records directly to OIG and that such records had to first undergo review by DHS attorneys," Cuffari wrote. "This review led to weeks-long delays in OIG obtaining records and created confusion over whether all records had been produced."
A Secret Service agent stands by after Marine One at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., July 10, 2022.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters, FILE
The director of communications at the US Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, said any insinuation the service intentionally deleted texts is false in a statement Thursday evening.
“The insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false. In fact, the Secret Service has been fully cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) in every respect – whether it be interviews, documents, emails, or texts,” the statement said.
The statement continued that the Secret Service “began to reset its mobile phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration. In that process, data resident on some phones was lost,” and that DHS OIG requested electronic communications for the first time on Feb. 26, 2021, after the migration was underway. The agency added that OIG was notified of certain data missing.
The Secret Service also refuted the notion that they were not being cooperative with the DHS investigation.
“To the contrary, DHS OIG has previously alleged that its employees were not granted appropriate and timely access to materials due to attorney review. DHS has repeatedly and publicly debunked this allegation, including in response to OIG’s last two semi-annual reports to Congress. It is unclear why OIG is raising this issue again,” the statement said.
Ohio's Rob Portman, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he was “deeply concerned” over the letter.
“I am deeply concerned by the letter I received from the DHS Inspector General documenting the Department’s delays in producing materials to the Inspector General and its deletion of records following requests by the Inspector General. It is essential that the Department be transparent with its inspector general, Congress, and the American public,” he said in a statement.
The DHS has not yet responded for comment.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the chairman of the committee, echoed that.
“We need to get to the bottom of whether the Secret Service destroyed federal records or the Department of Homeland Security obstructed oversight," Peters said in a statement. "The DHS Inspector General needs these records to do its independent oversight and the public deserves to have a full picture of what occurred on January 6th. I will be learning more from the DHS Inspector General about these concerning allegations.”
It is unclear whether the messages were deleted intentionally or by accident, though the inspector general's letter comes as the Secret Service is once againunder heightened scrutinyfollowing hearings from the House committee investigating the insurrection.
Recent testimony suggested that former President Donald Trump tried to join his supporters in marching from the Ellipse to the Capitol last year but was stopped by the Secret Service. The agency has since said it will respond on the record to that testimony.
