U.S. Secret Service provides single text exchange to Jan 6 investigation

The US Secret Service has provided a single text exchange to the investigation into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The security organisation provided the conversation to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigating the agency’s record-keeping.

The watchdog had requested the messages sent and received by 24 Secret Service personnel between December 2020 and January 2021.

The disclosure comes as the committee examines what then-President Donald Trump did in the 187 minutes between his speech to supporters and when he eventually called on them to go home.

“The Secret Service submitted the responsive records it identified, namely, a text message conversation from former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to former Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Thomas Sullivan requesting assistance on January 6, 2021, and advised the agency did not have any further records responsive to the DHS OIG’s request for text messages,” Assistant Director Ronald Rowe said in the letter to the committee.

Secret Service cooperation

Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the Secret Service has been cooperating with the House investigation.

“Yesterday morning we delivered an initial set of documents and records responsive to the subpoena issued on Friday, July 15, 2022,” he said.

“Our delivery included thousands of pages of documents, Secret Service cell phone use and other policies, as well as operational and planning records.”

“We continue to scrutinize our records, databases, and archives to ensure full compliance with the Committee’s subpoena. We are taking all feasible steps to identify records responsive to the subpoena, to include forensic examinations of agency phones and other investigative techniques.”

A Secret Service spokesman last week acknowledged text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, were deleted after being sought by the DHS inspector general.