‘Thousands’ Of Critical New Records Obtained By Jan 6 Committee

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The House committee investigating January 6 has obtained “thousands” of additional records related to January 6 from the Secret Service, according to chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

The panel obtaining the records follows it issuing a subpoena for various materials from the agency, including text messages and after action reports, in July. “It’s a combination of a number of text messages, radio traffic, that kind of thing. Thousands of exhibits,” Thompson said. A Secret Service spokesperson described what the agency provided as “a significant level of detail from emails, radio transmissions, Microsoft Teams chat messages and exhibits that address aspects of planning, operations and communications surrounding January 6th,” adding that no additional texts — meaning text-based phone communications — were recovered. The texts Thompson referenced evidently included web-based text communications on Teams. “We’ve got a number of staffers going through it all right now,” Thompson added. “It’s a work in progress.”

“It’s been a large volume of information that we really pressed hard for the agency to release,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said, discussing recent materials handed over. In the break between public hearings, the panel’s probe continues progressing. “There’s texts, there’s emails, there’s radio traffic, there’s all kinds of information. [Microsoft] Teams meetings,” Lofgren added on MSNBC. “We’re going through everything that’s been provided. More is coming in.”

The Secret Service came under scrutiny after a revelation that texts from around the time of January 6 were apparently deleted amid what an agency spokesperson characterized as a pre-planned system migration affecting agents’ phones. Public testimony to the House committee investigating the riot from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson highlighted how the agency could provide a critical look at some of the key events involving then-President Trump around the Capitol riot. Among other examples, Hutchinson said she was told of an incident in which Trump became physically aggressive with security agents in his vehicle amid an attempt to get to the Capitol instead of go back to the White House.

Besides the startling nature of the president getting into a physical altercation with a Secret Service agent, additional details about the incident could also illuminate just how intent Trump really was on getting to the Capitol on January 6, despite any wishes for the contrary from his security team. He never ended up arriving at the Capitol grounds that day, but what if he made it there after all? What would he have done? Hutchinson also testified that then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone was concerned about the possibility of someone getting criminally charged in connection to the previously outlined plans for Trump to go to the Capitol that day. Hutchinson said criminal obstruction was among the concerns.