According to reporting from NBC News’ Pete Williams and Julia Ainsley, the inspector general’s probe into the Department of Homeland Security regarding missing Secret Service text messages hailing from January 5th and 6th, 2021, has now officially turned into a criminal investigation, after reports revealed the text messages being sought by the J6 House Select Committee were conveniently deleted after their request for the evidence was already made.
A letter from DHS Deputy Inspector General Gladys Ayala that was relayed to reporters reads, “The DHS Inspector General informed the Secret Service on Wednesday evening that the investigation is now criminal and that it should halt all internal investigations on the missing text messages.”
“To ensure the integrity of our investigation, the USSS must not engage in any further investigative activities regarding the collection and preservation of the evidence referenced above,” the DHS Deputy Inspector General reportedly wrote. “This includes immediately refraining from interviewing potential witnesses, collecting devices, or taking any other action that would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.”
Ayala penned this brutal letter to current Secret Service Director James Murray. However, reports have recently revealed that Murray is soon to leave his position at the Secret Service to take a job at Snapchat — the popular social media site that is, conveniently enough, famous for its feature that allows users to erase messages moments after they’ve been viewed.
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In response to the news, the Secret Service released a statement confirming their receipt of the letter from the DHS Deputy Inspector General and claimed that they have since informed the January 6th House Select Committee — that’s currently investigating the infamous and deadly Capitol attack — about the criminal probe.
Just earlier today reports claimed the Department of Homeland Security instructed the US Secret Service to stop their internal inquiry into the situation, which could undoubtedly serve to ignite further speculations.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Anthony Quintano, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
