[WATCH] DHS Inspector General Also Failed to Notify Jan 6th Committee About 2 Trump Officials ‘Missing’ Texts

The scandal surrounding “wiped” texts from the Secret Service on January 5th and January 6th has only deepened, with the Washington Post reporting on Friday that text messages of two Department of Homeland Security leaders during Donald Trump’s final days in office are missing.

The government phones of Chad Wolf, former acting DHS secretary, and Ken Cuccinelli, an acting deputy secretary, reportedly were “reset” when they left the government in January 2021, wiping their texts. The DHS Office of Inspector General was notified of the missing texts in February, but failed to inform Congress and made no efforts to recover the records, the Post reported.

This is far from the first time Joseph Cuffari has been criticized for withholding information from congressional lawmakers. Cuffari reportedly knew that Secret Service agents deleted almost all text messages from Jan. 6, 2021, for months, but did not tell lawmakers until recently.

Joseph Cuffari, the DHS inspector general who withheld news of deleted text messages from the January 6 committee, has repeatedly suppressed investigations and information. Why won’t POTUS fire him? https://t.co/uaHDGcgTWG

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) July 29, 2022

“It is extremely troubling that the issue of deleted text messages related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol is not limited to the Secret Service, but also includes Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, who were running DHS at the time,” House Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson ((D-MS)) said in a statement. “If the Inspector General had informed Congress, we may have been able to get better records from Senior administration officials regarding one of the most tragic days in our democracy’s history,” Thompson continued.

SHORT THREAD: What if Donald, Chad Wolf, Cucinelli, and the IG Cuffari had this all planned out? What if in the fall of 2020 while planning the “Green Bay sweep”, the also planned a “phone swap” right after Donald left office. 1/

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) July 29, 2022

Cuccinelli, who was interviewed by the January 6th Committee in December, was involved in Trump meetings related to efforts to overturn the election. The New York Times has reported that Trump instructed his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to call Cuccinelli and inquire about seizing voting machines. Cuccinelli reportedly told Giuliani that DHS did not have the authority to do so.

See Also

January 6th Select Committee Issues Additional Subpoenas, Including One for Ali Alexander

NEVER forget that DHS was being run by *ILLEGALLY* acting Secretary Chad Wolf and whatever the hell he was Ken Cuccinelli during these dates.

You know – when they were *also* sabotaging Homeland Security intelligence products prior to the coup attempt. pic.twitter.com/Ukb01ih8sH

— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) July 20, 2022

The latest revelation of missing texts comes as the Committee has been zeroing in on Trump’s Cabinet. The panel has now interviewed Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s treasury secretary, and Mick Mulvaney, a former acting White House chief of staff and special envoy to Northern Ireland who resigned following the insurrection. The committee also is negotiating with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a closed-door interview that could happen as soon as this week.