The U.S. Secret Service gave a House committee on Jan. 6 a list of all personal cell phone numbers belonging to agents based in Washington, D.C., for the period the group is investigating, according to sources familiar with the matter — an unusual step amid increased scrutiny of the agency’s cooperation with a congressional panel investigating last year’s uprising and the role then-President Donald Trump played in it.
The commission can now determine which agents’ call records it may want to review and, if they choose to do so, can either request records from the agents directly or possibly issue subpoenas to their cell phone providers, an official familiar with the matter explained. the situation.
The Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, have faced criticism in recent weeks for deleting text messages belonging to agents on and around Jan. 6, 2021. Democrats in Congress have accused the Homeland Security Inspector General of abandoning the effort to collect text and phone records from that day.
The search and retrieval of information from personal devices by federal employees is a “highly unusual” step by the committee, according to Don Michalek, a retired senior Secret Service agent, and may reflect the agency’s renewed efforts to further demonstrate its cooperation with congressional investigators.
A Secret Service agent stays behind Marine One at Fort McNair in Washington, DC, July 10, 2022.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters, FILE
The Secret Service has faced heavy criticism in recent weeks as the committee’s testimony has focused on Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6, 2021, and what agents assigned to the White House did and saw that day.
At the same time, Michalek said, the agency’s decision to turn over personal device information to the commission could present difficult legal challenges.
“If the agency were to turn over these private phone numbers, the only appropriate course to do so would be through a subpoena or a court order,” said Michalek, an ABC News contributor. “If that’s missing, their transmission can be problematic.”
A Secret Service spokesman recently acknowledged that some phone data dating back to January 2021 was lost as a result of a previously planned data transfer, noting that the transfer was in progress when the inspector general’s office made the request in February 2021.
ABC News reported Thursday that DHS is reviewing its electronic retention policies and will stop wiping the phones of political appointees until the review is complete.
The Secret Service and representatives of the Jan. 6 committee declined to comment.
ABC News’ Aaron Katerski and Luke Barr contributed reporting.
Add Comment