The US Secret Service has turned over a list of agency-issued cell phone numbers to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill, according to reports by ABC and CNN.
The “highly unusual” move to release the agents’ numbers will allow investigators to identify officers’ records they wish to examine as part of their investigation, ABC first reported, and could signal a new effort by the agency to cooperate with the researchers.
CNN reported that current USSS director James Murray is delaying his retirement to oversee the agency’s cooperation with investigators.
“I feel strongly that I will use this time to oversee and ensure our agency’s continued cooperation, responsiveness, and full support in connection with the ongoing congressional and other inquiries,” CNN said in a message to workers. its potential.
The files are being released after the agency faced criticism that it deleted text messages from agents’ phones that could potentially have been used as evidence in the investigation.
As part of a separate agency-wide investigation related to the Capitol attack, ABC reported, the inspector general in charge of the Secret Service also obtained a list of personal cell phone numbers for agents.
Agents’ deletion of text messages may have violated federal records retention laws and caused the loss of potentially relevant information about the events of January 6
House Speaker Carolyn Maloney and Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson accused the independent watchdog overseeing the Department of Homeland Security of covering up parts of its investigation into the missing messages.
“We are writing with serious new concerns about your lack of transparency and independence, which appears to compromise the integrity of a critical investigation being conducted by your office,” the lawmakers wrote in an open letter to Trump-appointed DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari. “These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover the extent of the missing records.”
Thompson and Maloney asked Cuffari to step aside from overseeing the investigation, saying his late disclosure to Congress about the deleted Secret Service files cast “serious doubts about his independence and his ability to effectively conduct such an important investigation.” research”.
