Miller, Patel and McCarthy were all considered critical witnesses to understanding the administration’s response to the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill and former President Donald Trump’s reaction to the breach. All three were involved in the Defense Department’s response to sending National Guard troops to the US Capitol as the uprising unfolded. There is no indication that the officials themselves deleted the files. The government’s claim in filings that officials’ text messages from that day were not preserved is the latest blow to efforts for transparency into the events of Jan. 6. It comes as the Department of Homeland Security is also under fire for the apparent loss of Secret Service messages that day. Miller declined to comment. Patel and McCarthy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and the Army also did not respond to requests for comment. American Oversight is now requesting an “organizational investigation” by the Department of Justice to investigate the destruction of the materials. “It’s just amazing to think that the agency didn’t understand the importance of keeping its records — especially [with regards] to the top officials they could have captured: what they did, when they did it, why they did it, they did it that day,” Heather Sawyer, executive director of American Oversight, told CNN. Sawyer said her organization learned the records had not been preserved by government attorneys last spring, and that the admission was then memorialized in a joint status report filed in court in March. “DOD and the Army have communicated to Plaintiff that when an employee separates from DOD or the Army they surrender their government-issued phone and the phone is wiped,” the government said in the filing. “For those custodians who are no longer with the agency, the text messages were not preserved and therefore could not be searched, although it is possible that specific text messages were stored in other file systems, such as email.” The admission that the files were not preserved has taken on new significance in the wake of the ongoing scandal over the loss of Secret Service agents’ texts since January 6. “It just reveals a widespread lack of taking seriously the obligation to maintain records, to ensure accountability, to ensure accountability to their partners in the legislative branch and to the American people,” Sawyer said. This story is breaking and will be updated.
title: “The Jan. 6 Text Messages Were Deleted From The Phones Of Key Trump Pentagon Officials " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-09” author: “Ronald Hernandez”
Miller, Patel and McCarthy were all considered critical witnesses to understanding the administration’s response to the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill and former President Donald Trump’s reaction to the breach. All three were involved in the Defense Department’s response to sending National Guard troops to the US Capitol as the uprising unfolded. There is no indication that the officials themselves deleted the files. The government’s claim in filings that officials’ text messages from that day were not preserved is the latest blow to efforts for transparency into the events of Jan. 6. It comes as the Department of Homeland Security is also under fire for the apparent loss of Secret Service messages that day. Miller declined to comment. Patel and McCarthy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US Army media relations chief Col. Kathy Wilkinson said in a statement that, “It is our policy not to comment on ongoing litigation.” Paul Ney, a former general counsel at the Defense Department, told CNN that Tuesday’s disclosure is “the first I’ve heard of any Department of Defense litigation involving any problem with the cell phone that I turned over when I left the Department of Defense on January 20 2021. . “I didn’t wipe the phone before handing it in (or ever that I can remember),” Ney continued. “When I returned the phone, I didn’t know what was going to happen to this device nor do I know what actually happened to this device after I handed it in. left the State Department on Inauguration Day, I believe it’s very likely what happened and when it happened , but I don’t know why.” American Oversight is now requesting an “organizational investigation” by the Department of Justice to investigate the destruction of the materials. “It’s just amazing to think that the agency didn’t understand the importance of keeping its records — especially [with regards] to the top officials they could have captured: what they did, when they did it, why they did it, they did it that day,” Heather Sawyer, executive director of American Oversight, told CNN. Sawyer said her organization learned the records were not being preserved by government attorneys earlier this year, and that the acknowledgment was then memorialized in a joint status report filed in court in March. “DOD and the Army have communicated to Plaintiff that when an employee separates from DOD or the Army they surrender their government-issued phone and the phone is wiped,” the government said in the filing. “For those custodians who are no longer with the agency, the text messages were not preserved and therefore could not be searched, although it is possible that specific text messages were stored in other file systems, such as email.” The admission that the files were not preserved has taken on new significance in the wake of the ongoing scandal over the loss of Secret Service agents’ texts since January 6. “It just reveals a widespread lack of taking seriously the obligation to maintain records, to ensure accountability, to ensure accountability to their partners in the legislative branch and to the American people,” Sawyer said. The Secret Service said its texts were lost as a result of a previously scheduled data transfer of its agents’ cellphones that began on January 27, 2021, exactly three weeks after the attack on the US Capitol. Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari first learned those texts were missing as early as May 2021, CNN previously reported. The multi-agency pattern prompted her organization to write to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is already facing a request from congressional Democrats to take over the DHS investigation into the missing Secret Service documents. “U.S. Oversight therefore urges you to investigate the actions of the Department of the Interior to allow the destruction of records potentially related to this important matter of national concern and historical importance,” the letter said, citing calls by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin to the Department of Homeland Security was investigated for similar failures, the letter, shared with CNN on Tuesday, said. After filing FOIA requests with the Defense Department and the military, American Oversight says the Pentagon acknowledged the request on Jan. 15, 2021. American Oversight then filed a lawsuit in March to compel the release of the records. In addition to the FOIA obligations that American Oversight says the Pentagon has ignored by failing to preserve the records, Sawyer also pointed out that a separate federal records law also requires the government to keep records that have “information value of the data in them “. “I think it’s very unlikely that anyone can honestly argue that the communications between these top officials on Jan. 6 would not have the informational value that the Federal Records Act is intended to achieve,” Sawyer said. The US watchdog is seeking records on several other Pentagon officials — some of whom remain in the administration. “For those guards still on duty, the Army has begun a search for text messages responsive to FOIA requests and estimates that its supplemental search will be completed by the end of September,” the Justice Department said in a July joint filing on the case. . A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. What the Pentagon was hearing from the White House as the attack on Capitol Hill unfolded was the focus of a Jan. 6 House inquiry, and lawmakers say addressing security lapses that day is a goal of their investigation. The House Jan. 6 committee last week released testimony Miller gave to the panel denying that former President Donald Trump ever gave him a formal order to have 10,000 troops ready to deploy on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6. “I was never given any direction or command nor was I aware of any such plans,” Miller said in the video. A spokesman for the Jan. 6 committee declined to comment on Pentagon-related records. A former Defense Department official from a previous administration told CNN it was ingrained in new hires during their onboarding that their work devices are subject to the Presidential Records Act and said their communications would be archived. The source said it was assumed that when they handed in their devices at the end of their employment, any communication records would be archived. This story has been updated with additional details.