January 6 Committee Says Secret Service May Have Violated Federal Records Law for Erased Messages

By Mary Webber First Posted: Jul 21, 2022 04:34 AM EDT

The January 6 committee said the Secret Service may have violated the Federal Records Act for the erased messages they failed to preserve.

According to CBS News, the panel is asking for more records from the security agency as staff of the House select committee only received one text from a July 15 subpoena. The subpoena asked for Secret Service text messages between January 5 and 6 last year.

The security agency explained that phone messages from those dates had been erased unintentionally due to an agency-wide system migration.

Secret Service Messages

Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a committee member, said the Secret Service left it up to the agents to decide which records to keep and delete during the agency phone migration process last year.

The House select committee tweeted Wednesday that they have concerns about the system migration that resulted in the deleted text messages.

The panel noted that the procedure for "preserving content prior to this purge appears to have been contrary to federal records retention requirements and may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act." The committee added that it is seeking additional records from the Secret Service.

A senior official told CBS News that the Secret Service had shared a text message between former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and former Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Thomas Sullivan with oversight committees, including the January 6 panel.

In the text message dated January 6, 2021, Sund asked for resources and assistance from the Secret Service. The Secret Service has presented a lot of records and documents. However, the House panel is particularly interested in communications before and during the Capitol riot.

The Washington Post reported that the committee interviewed more than 1,000 people, unveiling new information about the cast of characters that enabled some of former President Donald Trump's "darkest impulses" following the 2020 election.

One witness said Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was intoxicated when he urged the former president to declare victory on election night despite the vote count.

Giuliani, on the other hand, denied those claims. The select committee has focused on Trump regarding his knowledge, planning, and choices.

January 6 Committee Hearings

The January 6 committee intends to use its Thursday night hearing to call out lawmakers who cowered during the Capitol attack.

Rolling Stone reported that one source said the lawmakers have plans to show a picture of how some of Donald Trump's greatest enablers of his "coup plot" were "quaking in their boots."

The committee has shown photos, video evidence, and footage of lawmakers reacting to a mob of Trump supporters who fought through a police line to breach the Capitol.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have tried to "whitewash" the insurrection by calling it a "peaceful protest" in the 18 months since the Capitol riot.

Republicans such as Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Paul Gosar have dubbed alleged rioters as unjustly accused "political prisoners."

The select committee has tried to show that Trump attempted to steal an election he repeatedly told he had lost. In addition, his efforts to steal it resulted in an "unconstitutional electors' scheme."

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson also revealed that she had drafted a statement for Trump to ask protesters to leave. Trump reportedly scratched out the word "illegally" and refused to issue it.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Former White House Staffers Set to Testify at Next January 6 Hearing - From ABC News