Jan. 6 committee to receive deleted Secret Service texts

The Democrat-led House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot expects to receive copies Tuesday of Secret Service text messages once thought to have been erased by the agency.

California Democrat Zoe Lofgren told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the committee had subpoenaed the Secret Service for the texts and that they would be arriving early this week.

Last week, Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told members of Congress that the Secret Service deleted text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021 as part of a "device-replacement program" and after his office requested records from the agency regarding the Jan. 6 riot. 

The Secret Service, in response to the inspector general's office, swiftly denied any malicious intent, saying the messages were deleted as part of a pre-planned technology system change.

The messages could shed some light on claims made by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson including that then-President Donald Trump tried to physically force his limousine to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6. The inspector general's office also said it is probing her allegations. 

"You can imagine how shocked we were to get the letter from the inspector general saying that he had been trying to get this information and that [the texts] had, in fact, been deleted after he asked for them?" Lofgren asked. "We expect to get them by this Tuesday. "I was shocked to hear that they didn't back up their data before they reset their iPhones. That's crazy."

The committee has had six hearings with the next one scheduled for Thursday.