WASHINGTON (AP) – The House committee investigating the Capitol riot has subpoenaed the Secret Service for text messages agents reportedly deleted around Jan. 6, 2021, as the panel probes Donald Trump’s actions at the time of the deadly siege.
The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the committee understands the messages had been “erased.” Thompson outlined an aggressive timeline for production of the documents by Tuesday.
“The USSS erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, as part of a ‘device-replacement program,'” Thompson said in a statement late Friday.
He said the panel “seeks the relevant text messages, as well as any after action reports that have been issued in any and all divisions of the USSS pertaining or relating in any way to the events of January 6, 2021.”
The Secret Service said the committee “has had our full and unwavering cooperation” since beginning its work and “that does not change,” according to a statement from agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He added: “We plan to continue that cooperation by responding swiftly to the Committee’s subpoena.”