Investigators expand inquiry into missing Secret Service texts to fill gaps from Jan. 6
Cami Mondeaux
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Officials investigating alleged misconduct within the Department of Homeland Security have expanded their inquiry into missing Secret Service texts that were sent ahead of the Jan. 6 riot, specifically homing in on the agency’s chief watchdog’s involvement in the deletion of communications.
Investigators demanded access to records related to the missing texts from the office of Inspector General Joseph Cuffari earlier this week, suggesting a new sense of urgency in the nearly two-year investigation. The request was revealed in a federal lawsuit filed by Cuffari on Tuesday accusing the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency of government overreach.
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CIGIE leaders met on Wednesday to discuss the lawsuit, and it is expected the Justice Department will represent the group as its legal counsel, according to the Washington Post.
The records request and subsequent lawsuit are the latest developments in the yearslong investigations into the Jan. 6 riot. House Democrats initially sought access to all text messages sent between Secret Service agents leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, but they were later told that the office no longer had communications from that day.
That revelation sparked widespread concerns, prompting an investigation from the CIGIE into allegations of misconduct, biased decision-making, and retaliation against whistleblowers. Cuffari has repeatedly denied any misconduct.
However, the investigation has become a new focus of the wide-ranging investigation, according to Cuffari’s 173-page lawsuit. Investigators in the office of Department of Transportation Inspector General Eric Soskin, which is leading the inquiry, have repeatedly flooded Cuffari’s staff with requests for access to documents and other information, the lawsuit alleges.
Cuffari issued a request in June 2021 for text messages sent between Secret Service members between Dec. 7, 2020, and Jan. 8, 2021. That request came after lawmakers issued a subpoena in March 2021, seeking similar messages — but only for those “received, prepared, or sent” between Jan. 5, 2021, and Jan. 7, 2021.
Officials later concluded the agency no longer possessed the text messages, which lawmakers hoped would shed light on the days leading up to the riot. The Secret Service maintained the agency did not maliciously delete the communications, noting some were lost due to a “device-replacement program” that began about a month before the inspector general’s request.
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Cuffari has pushed back against allegations of misconduct, noting in his lawsuit that the inspector general’s office does not have “any control over the Secret Service or over where texts by members of that organization go.”
Cuffari and his staff have repeatedly attempted to stave off requests for information related to the missing text messages, effectively delaying the CIGIE’s investigation for months.