By Steve Neavling
Homeland Security’s internal watchdog had a chance to try and recover missing Secret Service text messages around the time of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari’s staff learned in February 2021 that the messages had been deleted when the Secret Service switched to a new system and got new devices.
Cuffari’s office was going to get data specialists to help retrieve the messages, but he suddenly changed his mind.
The House committee investigating the insurrection has been seeking the messages in hopes of revealing more information about Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021.
When Cuffari notified the House and Senate Homeland Security committees this month that the text messages had been “erased,” he failed to disclose that “his office first discovered that deletion in December and failed to alert lawmakers or examine the phones,” The Post wrote.
Cuffari’s spokesman decline to comment on the latest news.
