Jan. 6 text messages wiped from phones of key Trump Pentagon officials

[Novara]

Jan. 6 text messages wiped from phones of key Trump Pentagon officials

The Defense Department wiped the phones of top departing DOD and Army officials at the end of the Trump administration, deleting any texts from key witnesses to events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to court filings.

The acknowledgment that the phones from the Pentagon officials had been wiped was first revealed in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit American Oversight brought against the Defense Department and the Army. The watchdog group is seeking January 6 records from former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, among other prominent Pentagon officials – having filed initial FOIA requests just a few days after the Capitol attack.

Miller, Patel and McCarthy have all been viewed as crucial witnesses for understanding government’s response to the January 6 Capitol assault and former President Donald Trump’s reaction to the breach. All three were involved in the Defense Department’s response to sending National Guard troops to the US Capitol as the riot was unfolding. There is no suggestion that the officials themselves erased the records.

The government’s assertion in the filings that the officials’ text messages from that day were not preserved is the latest blow to the efforts to bring transparency to the events of January 6. It comes as the Department of Homeland Security is also under fire for the apparent loss of messages from the Secret Service that day.

Miller declined to comment. Patel and McCarthy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and the Army also did not respond to requests for comment.

American Oversight is now calling for a “cross-agency investigation” by the Justice Department to investigate destruction of the materials.

More: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/politics/defense-department-missing-january-6-texts/index.html

[Lovie777]

1. Geez wiz ........

[Novara]

2. Evidently everybody who worked for that misadministration doesn't understand ...

... the records retention policy.

OR ...

(and you're not gonna believe this )

There's a massive coverup.

Which do you think is more likely?

[Hekate]

3. None dare call it treason?

[Novara]

4. Because it isn't treason

They've likely broken plenty of laws but deleting text messages in a coverup is not treason.

[Hekate]

5. I'm referring to participation in a coup d'etat

[Novara]

6. Even that isn't treason.

It's sedition, surely. But not treason. The courts have traditionally hewn to the strictest interpretation of treason which includes giving aid and comfort to a foreign enemy in wartime.

I would agree that it is treasonous conduct, but it is not legally treason.