Secret Service handed over two dozen cell phones in missing texts probe

The US Secret Service recently handed over two dozen phones to investigators with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) as part of the investigation into missing text messages from January 6.

NBC News reported on Tuesday that the agency had done so “shortly after” a letter was sent on 19 July from the OIG’s office demanding their confiscation. The letter reportedly followed OIG Joseph Cuffari’s launch of a formal criminal investigation into the matter.

At issue are text messages from agents in and around Washington on January 6, whose communications are desired by members of Congress as well as (potentially) the Justice Department as part of its ongoing grand jury probe that has in recent weeks expanded to include Mr Trump’s associates, according to news reports.

The Secret Service has for months claimed that those text messages were deleted when agency phones performed an automatic software update which restored the devices to factory settings and cleared out data. But a report from The Intercept indicated that the agency knew the texts needed to be turned over before the update occurred, and carried out the update regardless shortly after the texts were requested by the OIG.

NBC News reports that it isn’t yet clear what data, if any, the OIG’s office will be able to recover from the now-cleared phones.

A whirlwind of allegations about what occurred away from the cameras on January 6 could likely be cleared up by the contents of Secret Service communications as well as the (truthful) testimony of agents who were assigned to the president and vice president’s details that day.

In particular, an accusation from the top deputy to ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows arose during the January 6 committee hearings in the House; Cassidy Hutchinson told lawmakers that a member of the Secret Service had informed her the president had lunged at an agent and attempted to grab the steering wheel of his armoured presidential vehicle in an attempt to direct it to the US Capitol, where a mob of his supporters would soon attack.

There’s also considerable interest around the actions of Mike Pence that day — alarming reports have circulated that Mr Pence was indignant and refused to be taken away from the Capitol by Secret Service agents, for unclear reasons.

“I’m not getting in the car,” Mr Pence reportedly told his Secret Service detail during the attack, according to a book from two Washington Post reporters. “If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off.”

The January 6 committee is set to hold one more hearing on Wednesday, but has yet to issue its full report. The Justice Department’s investigation into the attack also remains ongoing, and would likely take interest in the texts should they be recovered.

Mr Trump remains the GOP leader-in-exile at Mar-a-Lago, where he continues to publicly insist that he be reinstated as president.