Jul 17, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Jan. 6 panel expects to see deleted Secret Service texts by Tuesday

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) speaks to reporters alongside Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) after a hearing on the investigation on June 13. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Jan. 6 committee expects to receive the Secret Service's deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, by Tuesday, panel member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said Sunday.

The big picture: The committee subpoenaed the Secret Service for information on Friday after an agency watchdog notified the Senate and House Homeland Security committees that text messages from Jan. 5 and 6 had been deleted.

Catch up quick: The Secret Service deleted the message as part of a device-replacement program, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general said last week.

  • But the replacement happened after the DHS inspector requested records for its own evaluation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
  • A spokesperson for the Secret Service said at the time, "The insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false." He also noted that "none of the texts [the inspector general] was seeking had been lost in the migration."

What she's saying: "You can imagine how shocked we were to get the letter from the inspector general," Lofgren told ABC's "This Week."

  • She added: "We need to get this information to get the full picture."
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