Jan 6 committee member hits out at Secret Service over ‘very conflicting’ statements on deleted texts

Republican congressman and January 6 committee member Adam Kinzinger has accused the Secret Service of contradicting statements on whether text messages sent during the deadly attack on the US Capitol were still accessible.

Last week, the bipartisan committee was informed by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (OIG) that the Secret Service was delaying efforts to hand over materials related to that day, and had apparently deleted relevant text messages.

Mr Kinzinger said on Sunday that the agency claimed it had lost all or some of the texts requested by the panel - then declared all “relevant” messages were turned over to the OIG.

That presents a clear contradiction, the Illinois lawmaker said.

“So we decided as a committee, let’s request these [texts] by Tuesday,” Mr Kinzinger said, during an interview with CBS.

“In the very least, it is quite crazy that the Secret Service would actually end up deleting anything related to one of the more infamous days in American history”.

It is unclear how many text messages have been turned over by the Secret Service. The select committee set a deadline of Tuesday for its subpoena over the text messages and other phone records from the Secret Service.

The DHS Office of Inspector General is the agency’s internal watchdog which investigates allegations of ethical misconduct. The Inspector General has coordinated personally with the January 6 committee as it investigates a claim from an aide to ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about Donald Trump supposedly assaulting a Secret Service agent in a presidential SUV following his January 6 rally on the Ellipse and demanding to be taken to his supporters at the US Capitol.

A Secret Service spokesman denied last week that it has been anything but forthcoming in response to the January 6 committee’s requests. No explanation was offered for the contradictory statements.

"The January 6th Select Committee has had our full and unwavering cooperation since its inception in March of 2021 and that does not change," spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

The committee is set to hold what is likely to be its final public hearing this week. Lawmakers will meet for a prime-time hearing on Thursday where, according to members of the panel, they will present a minute-by-minute account of former president Donald Trump’s actions during the attack.

Previous hearings have revealed that the White House was well aware of both the falsehoods of Mr Trump’s claims about a “stolen election” as well as the likelihood that violence would erupt in Washington DC on January 6 but chose to go forward with efforts to overturn the election results.