Thompson, Maloney turn up heat on Secret Service watchdog, cite potential coverup of missing texts

WASHINGTON – Two key leaders of House committees demanded interviews and internal documents from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and cited a potential coverup of the investigation into missing Secret Service texts during the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., head of the special panel investigating the attack and the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., head of the Oversight and Reform Committee, turned up the heat Monday by calling the need for information urgent and set a Monday deadline.

“We are writing with grave new concerns over your lack of transparency and independence, which appear to be jeopardizing the integrity of a crucial investigation run by your office,” Thompson and Maloney wrote to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, whom they’ve asked to be removed from the investigation.

Cuffari hasn’t formally replied to the Monday letter or a July 26 letter urging him to step aside.

The Secret Service called the erasure of texts surrounding Jan. 6 for 24 staffers inadvertent during a routine update of phones.

The latest letter came after lawmakers obtained evidence Cuffari’s office learned the texts were missing in May 2021 – earlier than the previously disclosed December. The inspector general decided to abandon efforts to recover the texts in July 2021, nearly a year before Congress was notified about their erasure, according to the lawmakers.

“The Committees have obtained new evidence that your office may have secretly abandoned efforts to collect text messages from the Secret Service more than a year ago,” the lawmakers wrote. “These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records, raising further concerns about your ability to independently and effectively perform your duties as Inspector General (IG).”

More: Criminal probe of Secret Service texts a 'big deal' as agency draws Jan. 6 committee scrutiny

The committees sought Secret Service texts to learn more about what happened that day and how the administration responded.

Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified about a dispute she heard about between former President Donald Trump and his Secret Service detail. Texts could have potentially helped corroborate her testimony.

Members of former Vice President Mike Pence's Secret Service detail said they feared for their lives as a violent mob ransacked the Capitol.