DHS watchdog opens criminal inquiry of erased Secret Service Jan. 6 texts


The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has told the Secret Service to stop looking into its erased text messages related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack because the watchdog has launched an "ongoing criminal investigation" into the matter, CNN reported Thursday, citing a letter from DHS to the Secret Service.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed that the inspector general sent the letter notifying the agency about the investigation, and said the Secret Service alerted members of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to The Washington Post. The House select committee last week issued a subpoena seeking the texts.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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