The keeper of federal records asked the Secret Service to determine whether any text messages by agents around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol were improperly deleted.
The National Archives and Records Administration said in a letter Tuesday to the agency that it must submit a report within 30 days documenting what occurred.
“This report must include a complete description of the records affected, a statement of the exact circumstances surrounding the deletion of messages, a statement of the safeguards established to prevent further loss of documentation, and details of all agency actions taken to salvage, retrieve, or reconstruct the records,” the National Archives wrote.
