Two of the most senior Democrats in the House of Representatives made allegations on Monday that there is evidence of a cover-up in the investigation being conducted by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security into deleted messages from the United States Secret Service relating to the riot in the Capitol.
The forces behind the news: In a letter, the Chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, Carolyn Maloney, and the Chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, demanded that Inspector General Joseph Cuffari “step aside” and that his office provide documents and interviews.
They cited emails as evidence that members of Cuffari’s staff may have attempted to thwart efforts to obtain USSS messages.
Among them is a letter that Deputy Inspector General Thomas Kait sent to a DHS official on July 27, 2021. In it, he said, “please use this email as a reference to our conversation where I said we no longer request phone records and text messages from the USSS relating to the events on January 6th.”
This was in response to the officer’s question about whether or not the IG would continue to request phone records and messages from the USSS.
Thompson and Maloney claim that they have information indicating that Kait “removed the key language” from a memorandum that was sent to the DHS in February.
This memorandum “highlighted the importance of text messages” to the investigation being conducted by the IG, and it criticised the department for not complying with the December 2021 request on text messages. Thompson and Maloney allege that they learned this information.
Noteworthy is the fact that Thompson and Maloney highlighted a CNN article that aired over the weekend on charges that Cuffari became aware of the missing Secret Service messages relating to the rebellion that took place on January 6, 2021, four months after the event actually took place.
Why it is significant: The letter highlights the tensions between the Trump-appointed Cuffari and the House Democrats after the news of the missing Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021 broke a month ago. The text messages in question were sent by the Secret Service on those dates.
Since then, the House select committee that is looking into the disturbance at the Capitol, which is also chaired by Thompson, has sent a subpoena to the Secret Service, and Cuffari has opened a criminal inquiry into the affair.
Even while some regulations preclude Cuffari from publicly responding “to untruths and incorrect facts about our work,” he told Politico on Monday that he is “very pleased with the resiliency I have witnessed in the face of this assault of meritless criticism.”
What else they are claiming is that, in their letter, Thompson and Maloney state, “We are writing with severe new concerns regarding your lack of transparency and independence, which appear to be endangering the integrity of an important inquiry handled by your office.”
“The Committees have obtained new evidence that your office may have secretly abandoned efforts to collect text messages from the Secret Service more than a year ago,” they continued. “The evidence suggests that your office stopped collecting text messages from the Secret Service.”
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“These documents also indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records, raising further concerns about your ability to independently and effectively perform your duties as Inspector General,”
“These documents indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover up the extent of missing records,” “These documents indicate that your office may have taken steps to cover
What to keep an eye on No later than the 15th of August, Thompson and Maloney have asked Cuffari to ensure that Kait and Kristen Fredricks, who are the chief of staff for the Inspector General’s Office, be available for transcribed interviews.
The request for a reply from Axios was not immediately met with a response from Cuffari’s representatives.
