- The Secret Service has identified potential missing text messages on the phones of 10 agents, says a CNN report.
- The agency has been under fire after it was revealed that text messages were deleted following the Capitol attack.
- Investigators are now probing phones that contain metadata showing messages from around the riot.
The Secret Service has identified potential missing text messages on the phones of 10 agents that were sent and received around January 6, 2021, a CNN report says.
The agency found itself at the center of a political storm after it was revealed that text messages were deleted from their phones following the Capitol attack, which they said was due to a pre-planned agency-wide reset of phones and replacement of devices.
Secret Service investigators are now probing phones that contain metadata showing that messages were sent and received on or around the day of the Capitol riot, CNN said, citing two unnamed sources.
Investigators are working to determine whether the content of the text messages of the 10 agents contained relevant information that should have been preserved, the outlet reported.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general asked last year for the text records of 24 Secret Service personnel who were on duty on January 6, 2021, in order to learn more about the activities of then-President Donald Trump, who the Secret Service protects, on the day of the riot.
The House January 6 committee last week subpoenaed the text messages and other information after being told by a government watchdog that a trove of agency texts had been erased.
The agency submitted just one text to the committee in response to the subpoena.
Of the 24 Secret Service personnel now being investigated, 10 other Secret Service personnel had no text messages, and three had only personal records, sources told CNN.
The agency had been conducting an internal investigation into the missing texts but was told to stop after the Department of Homeland Security inspector general launched a criminal investigation into the matter, the outlet said.
Members of the House January 6 committee have said that the agency should have done more to preserve the texts, per CNN.
The Secret Service has continually denied that it deleted the texts with any malicious intent.
Committee members have cited a letter from congressional committees from January 16, 2021, which they say instructed the Secret Service to preserve their records.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told CNN that the agency found no record of that letter reaching the Secret Service after conducting an eight hour search.