The watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security on Friday briefed all nine members of the House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack about his finding that the Secret Service deleted texts from around Jan. 6, according to two people familiar with the matter.
While lawmakers were tight-lipped about what they heard, the closed-door briefing with the inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, came two days after his office sent a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees stating that Secret Service agents erased messages between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 “as part of a device-replacement program.” The deletion came after the watchdog office requested records from the agents as part of its probe into events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, the letter said.
