Two dozen cellphones of agents in the Secret Service were provided by the agency to the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security in recent months, according to new reporting. All the agents were involved in the agency’s reaction to the riot at the Capitol.
That official, Joseph Cuffari, is conducting a criminal investigation after struggling to obtain data from the Secret Service related to the events of January 6, about which agents’ communications could provide potentially critical insights. Cuffari eventually informed Congress that officials were saying texts were lost in what is characterized at the agency as a previously planned systems update, although the oversight figure is facing criticism for the delay in and content of his notifications to Congress. He didn’t provide information about missing texts from the two top political appointees at the department during the riot. Members of Congress are also concerned about Cuffari potentially using the criminal investigation as a cover, since he claimed he is “prevented” from complying with Congressional demands for information because of the probe, as chairpersons of the House Homeland Security and Oversight Committees recently summarized.
As for the seized phones, former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said she was told of an incident on January 6 when the then-president engaged in a brief physical altercation with an agent who served on his personal security team amid attempts by Donald to get to the Capitol instead of the White House. These communications could also provide insights on threats to then-Vice President Mike Pence — including potential procedural threats from inside the agency.
According to reporting included in a book by reporters with The Washington Post, Tony Ornato informed Keith Kellogg on Pence’s staff that the then-VP’s Secret Service detail was planning to transport Pence to Maryland amid the chaos at the Capitol. The problem is that Pence needed to be in D.C. for the certification of the presidential election outcome to continue, suggesting keeping Pence in Maryland could have helped boost the efforts of the rioters themselves, who — with Trump, through different means — were trying to stop Biden’s win from moving forward. “You can’t do that, Tony,” Kellogg reportedly told Ornato. “Leave him where he’s at. He’s got a job to do. I know you guys too well. You’ll fly him to Alaska if you have a chance. Don’t do it.” Why might Kellogg have suspected flying Pence to “Alaska” — exaggeration aside — was potentially a possibility? Separately, were there communications among agents about potentially supporting Trump’s ambitions?
Cuffari is also the subject of concerns from his own team. A recent letter from people working in the office accused him of substantially “editing reports to remove key findings, which weakens the impact of the reports” and meddling “with staff efforts to gather information necessary to perform independent oversight.” The letter claims it is from staff across the 700-person workforce representing each program office at all grade levels, although they didn’t identify themselves over concerns about retaliation at work.
