(RoyalPatriot.com )- The federal agency that’s responsible for investigating the response carried out by the Secret Service to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, has confiscated the phones from 24 different agents who were involved in the response that day.
NBC News recently reported this new information, with correspondent Julia Ainsley saying the new evidence just came to light. The investigation is being led by Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.
NBC News cited two sources who are knowledgeable about the investigation who said that members of the Secret Service’s senior leadership team confiscated the phones from 24 of the agents who responded to the Capitol riot that day. Those phones were then given to Cuffari.
The sources further said that the phones were given to Cuffari “shortly after” his office sent a letter on July 19 regarding the fact that he was launching a criminal probe into what happened to the missing text messages that were sent on and before January 6 by Secret Service members.
As Ainsley said in her report:
“It is unclear what, if any, information the Office of Inspector General has been able to obtain from the cellphones.
“The revelation that Cuffari’s office has had access to the phones since late July or August raises new questions about the progress of his criminal investigation into the missing text messages and what, if anything, the public may be able to learn about communications between agents on January 6, 2021.”
The agents apparently weren’t happy that their phones were confiscated. However, because the phones are considered government property, there’s nothing they could do about it.
Cuffari has been criticized for the way he has led the investigation to this point. It’s possible that a lot of that criticism is due to the fact that he was appointed to his position by former President Donald Trump.
As Ainsley said in her report about Cuffari:
“We actually learned as recently as last Friday that some of his own employees think that he isn’t doing enough and is sometimes standing in their way to do thoughtful, independent and thorough investigations.”
The who subject of text messages sent and receive by Secret Service agents first popped up in the public eye during a bombshell testimony given by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House’s special panel investigating the January 6 attacks.
During that testimony, Hutchinson said she was told Trump was furious at his Secret Service detail for refusing to take him to the Capitol building following the speech he gave on January 6 at the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the Capitol riot.
Trump allegedly demanded that he be taken to the Capitol to be there with his followers. When they refused, Hutchinson said she was told Trump screamed at the agents and tried to grab hold of the wheel of the presidential limo he was being driven in.
Following that testimony, federal agencies wanted to investigate text messages that may have been sent to and from agents on January 6 and the days that followed. But, not long after news about the interest in the messages broke, the Secret Service said the messages had been deleted.
