Secret Service watchdog suppressed memo on January 6 texts erasure

The circumstances around the erasure of the Secret Service texts have become central to the congressional probe by the House January 6 select committee, as it examines how agents and leaders planned to move Donald Trump and Mike Pence as violence unfolded at the Capitol.

The Secret Service is a division of DHS, and the chairman of the select committee Bennie Thompson in recent weeks has escalated the loss of the texts with the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The memo also noted that on multiple occasions, when the Secret Service produced documents months after they were requested, they contained redactions. The Secret Service did not indicate who approved or applied the redactions or why they were made, the memo said.