The January 6, 2021, text messages of the two top Department of Homeland Security officials under former President Donald Trump cannot be found.
Former acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelliallegedly had their phones reset when their terms were over shortly after the Capitol attack. All phone records were deleted as a result.
“It is extremely troubling that the issue of deleted text messages related to the January 6 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,” Rep. Bennie Thompson(D-Mississippi), who chairs the House select committee that has been investigating the Capitol attack over the past year, told the Washington Post.
DHS Inspector Joseph Cuffari was made aware of the missing texts a month later but did not tell Congress or try to get the records back.
“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 added.
