First on CNN: Jan. 6 text messages wiped from phones of key Trump Pentagon officials

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

(CNN)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. "It's just astounding to believe that the agency did not understand the importance of preserving its records -- particularly [with regards] to the top officials that might have captured: what they were doing, when they were doing it, why they were doing, it on that day," Heather Sawyer, American Oversight's executive director, told CNN.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/politics/defense-department-missing-january-6-texts/

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I know the agency I worked for (and it took some time to get it together in this "electronic age" ), had a "Records Schedule" for what types of documents had to be preserved and for how long they needed to be stored before they could be destroyed (with some that were designated to never be destroyed). The records get stored a a local NARA warehouse (paper and DVD I believe).

Records Control Schedules (RCS)

[onecaliberal]

1. They didn't want the country to find out they're all fucking traitors.

[TheBlackAdder]

29. Like pardons, I wonder if there is some list of people who asked for their phones to be wiped?

[onecaliberal]

32. The people need to be fired, investigated and prosecuted if appropriate.

All of these people are still sitting at DOD and DHS.

Why isn't anyone trying to figure out what happened?

[Ocelot II]

2. I wouldn't trust Kash Patel, in particular, as far as I could throw a grand piano.

[dchill]

61. You trust him TOO MUCH!

[50 Shades Of Blue]

3. Of course they understood the importance of the messages, which means

The consequences of wiping the messages were preferable to the consequences of not wiping them.

LOCK THEM UP.

[TheRealNorth]

11. Exactly

This country is DONE if no one is held accountable.

[Delphinus]

40. Yes.

Lock them up.

[Marcuse]

55. Just like the Gops decided that stonewalling the Committee was preferable to cooperating.

[machoneman]

4. A wide ranging conspiracy! Every senior Trump appointed agency and military head were all 'in'...

on text, email and likely even recorded phone calls being deleted after the 'coup' failed. They thought this out ahead of time and planned for all these deletions IF the coup failed...as it did.

As Hillary said, "Lock Them Up"!

[viva la]

20. But her emails!!!

Remember that horrific scandal?

These agencies-- and high-ups-- cabinet level!- deleted messages they knew would be needed by the DOJ.

And at least one inspector general, who is supposed to look for corrupt acts, apparently has covered it up.

[pwb]

5. Federal employment sucked when I worked for Uncle Sam. The way

these people are running scared about everything tells me it must have reached the worst under trump.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I retired about 2 weeks after the Jan. 20, 2017 Inauguration

[DURHAM D]

6. They all need to be in jail.

This is unbelievable.

well not really

[Tetrachloride]

13. Hanging

[triron]

70. Burned at the stake.

[JanMichael]

72. Firing squad or waterboarded to death.

[C_U_L8R]

8. This is a conspiracy.

Lock them up. Now.

[underpants]

18. Three strikes and you're out

No question about it now.

[forgotmylogin]

59. If the phones were all consistently wiped, sounds like they don't even need them.

Consistent evidence of a cover up.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Criminal perps of other crimes coverup by systematically breaking records-keeping laws. . . . . nt

[TheRealNorth]

10. People need to go to fucking jail

I don't care if it was the hapless IT guy who was following orders. They either cooperate or they sit in the clank.

[forgotmylogin]

60. Not fucking jail.

They should go to regular jail where there is no romance happening.

[Turbineguy]

12. Just the ones to the Russians, or all of them?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. They are not even trying to pretend to hide the coverup

Link to tweet

[sarcasmo]

15. Covering up the coup.

[onetexan]

24. yup, everyday it's more drip of info revealed

[viva la]

16. "We always do this!"

I don't think so.
I am amazed that all these agencies-- what are we up to now, 3? DHS, DOD, USSS?- would break their own rules and the law for that huge bloated pustule Trump, when he was on his way out anyway!

But you're right-- they did it to protect themselves, not Trump particularly.

Miller was the one who wrote that 1/4 order that no military or Guard assets could be assigned to protect the Capitol without his permission-- very specific.
Who told him to do that? Trump-- who had probably fired the other DOD secretary and installed Miller just for this reason.

[newdayneeded]

35. They always do this.....

on the 6th and 7th of January every year. Right secret service folks?

Someone, somewhere has those texts! All the talk of Google having warehouse size computer storage units as an example.

[Lonestarblue]

17. I know there are laws relating to presidential records, but does anyone know the laws

violated by wiping phones and deleting records by Pentagon leaders? And without those records, is it possible to investigate and prosecute them?

To me, this is worse than the physical attack on the Capitol because it suggests that many people, including civilian military leaders, were privy to and possibly supported plans for an insurrection to overthrow the government of the US. The J6 Committee truly has uncovered a massive plot.

[Ford_Prefect]

57. Federal employees including contractors are doing the people's business on the people's dime.

There is a requirement that any communication done on government time belongs to the people, including emails and other electronic information systems.

That provision doesn't stop people from electively erasing them. However it is illegal to do so.

I'm formerly an IT tech for one of the agencies and we had specific rules about how data was to be backed up and preserved for the record. This affected how hard drives were handled when new computers replaced older models. It also affected how servers were backed up for email and other data services.

My agency was civilian and academic, not security or military affiliated. Such agencies no doubt have different procedures, rules and reasons than we did for maintaining records continuity. Likewise they would probably have special oversight personnel and procedures to cover data handling on systems and hardware leaving service.

I do not believe for one moment that this is an "oops". This happened outside the normal line of professional procedure because people KNEW the information implicated them in seriously illegal activity. This wasn't someone covering up a political opinion, or a love affair.

This was also an organized effort covering certain phones belonging to active members of the coup and those who knew of it. It is a clear sign that the plot had many more government players committed to Trump who actively supported the mechanism and participated willingly in the processes of the coup attempt. It is also a clear sign that they anticipated a follow-up investigation of the coup and had guilty knowledge at the very least.

[slumcamper]

19. Where art thou, AG Garland?

Or art thou Nero?

Patience thins, and time draws near for you to address the nation.

PRIME TIME.

This plot deepens by the moment and is some very serious shit.

[llashram]

21. I choose to believe

AG Garland is holding his cards close to not have his case(s) leaked or compromised. Our democracy is stronger than trump and his traitors!!!

[slumcamper]

27. I suspect you are right--and hope it proves out sooner rather than too late.

Does it seem that the dam of the reservoir of justice is under tremendous pressure from the flooding of evidence, and that soon the case must break wide open?

[scarlet637]

42. I Hope You're Right...

I hope you're Right...

[triron]

71. We will see.

[Quanto Magnus]

22. Cover up

plain and simple

[bluestarone]

23. Plain and simple here.

They are ALL willing to take blame for the COVERUP, because the CRIME they are guilty of is TERRORISM again plain and simple!

[sheshe2]

25. et tu Pentagon

[slumcamper]

39. SO much...but THIS is the straw that has broken my personal camel's back.

Wow.

Just WOW...



Disclaimer: No actual camels were harmed in the consideration of the content or proffering of this opinion.

[sheshe2]

51. Yep.

So many traitors, so little time.

PS...love your disclaimer.

[llashram]

62. seems wide ranging

as a coup attempt...

[sheshe2]

64. It sure does.

[llashram]

65. ...

[choie]

26. Would you like to bet that Michael Flynn's brother

was one of those who destroyed their electronic footprint?

[jalan48]

28. I guess we're going to find out who's in charge.

[pfitz59]

30. send them all to prison

traitorous swine

[scarlet637]

31. Government Wide Conspiracy

I hope the DOJ opens an investigation into this immediately. The destruction of records/evidence across multiple federal agencies in a cross federal government conspiracy must be dealt with head on.

Our federal government has been broadly and pervasively corrupted. Those responsible have to be brought to justice.

[gopiscrap]

49. welcome to DU

[sop]

33. More Trump skulduggery.

Seems like every day something else is revealed. Is there a single government department or agency Trump didn't thoroughly corrupt?

[choie]

34. "It's just astounding to believe that the agency did not understand the importance

of preserving its records -- particularly [with regards] to the top officials that might have captured: what they were doing, when they were doing it, why they were doing, it on that day," Heather Sawyer, American Oversight's executive director, told CNN.

Uh, Heather...dearheart? They understood perfectly.

[royable]

36. If the Executive Branch had a Department of Nurturing Beautiful-Smelling Day-Lillies...

Drumpf would have appointed someone to be in charge of ripping all the beautiful-smelling day-lillies out of the gardens, covering the grounds in concrete, and planting a corpse flower right in the middle of it all.

And then delete all records and communications.

[AKwannabe]

37. No coincidence

For sure

[Sky Jewels]

38. It's terrifying, depressing, and enraging that

SO MANY higher ups in our most important institutions have turned out to be FUCKING CORRUPT TREASONOUS TRAITORS!

[Metaphorical]

41. It is worth remembering

that one of the reasons articles of impeachment were being secured against Nixon was that he had erased the tapes of his conversations, not the conversations themselves.

The Great Wipe is almost the classic definition of collusion - the intent on the part of a group of people to not only commit a crime, but to then cover it up.

[Evolve Dammit]

43. The more this unfolds the scarier it is, at how deep it was.

[Cha]

44. JHC.. Sneaky Traitor Cowards!

Focus!
Please Fight to Save Our Democracy💙 in 2022 & 2024!

[Baggies]

45. Gone With The Wind

[woodsprite]

46. So Flynn's brother would be one of those. Right? nt

[yobrault1]

47. obstructing justice

much.

[BlueJac]

48. As I think back, my phone was wiped around that time!

Why not get in on the wiping your ass fun!

[Bread and Circuses]

50. Traitors by the Truckload

So now we have the Army, Defense Department. Along with DOJ, Secret Service who are #RussianAssets. This is #RICO territory. A concerted effort to undermine the democracy and install an illegitimate person as president. Merrick Garland needs to hire 5,000 attorneys and investigators to charge all these SOBs

I am very concerned that if DOJ doesn't issue mass indictments by September, this democracy will end within ten years. This is a Criminal Syndicate financed by Russia and the ChristoFascits.

[Scalded Nun]

52. They understood just what the messages meant

"It's just astounding to believe that the agency did not understand the importance of preserving its records -- particularly [with regards] to the top officials that might have captured: what they were doing, when they were doing it, why they were doing, it on that day," Heather Sawyer, American Oversight's executive director, told CNN.

Did not understand? Oh, they understood completely the importance of those records.

Under the jail is still not enough for these traitorous scum.

And we STILL have hundreds of these treasonous asshats honeycombed throughout the executive branch, thanks the biggest traitor of them all. Every one of them needs to be purged from the government.

And DeJoy is still running the Post Office...why? And another Trumpian is still running the IRS...why? And how many with some degree of power are just under the radar, waiting for their call to action?

[dobleremolque]

53. These guys made a calculated decision ....

The penalty for violating records retention laws is a lot less than the penalty for seditious conspiracy. It's that simple. QED.

[Tanuki]

54. It was also widely reported during the transition that multiple agencies including Defense Dept

were refusing to cooperate with and transfer necessary intelligence to their incoming Biden Administrstion counterparts. I would imagine there were some rather damning communications around this.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-12-28/biden-trump-teams-lack-of-transition-cooperation-amounts-to-irresponsibility%3fcontext=amp

..."President-elect Joe Biden on Monday slammed the lame-duck Trump administration – particularly the Department of Defense and Office of Management and Budget – for refusing to cooperate with the transition of power, calling it an irresponsible move that makes the United States vulnerable to its enemies abroad.

"We're encountering roadblocks from the political leadership" from Defense and OMB, Biden said after he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received a briefing from his national security and foreign policy agency review teams. Those teams are assigned to assess what issues and resources the Trump administration is leaving for Biden."....(more)

[bigtime]

56. The cellular carriers

The cellular carriers should be able to produce at least the metadata for these texts (who texted who, and when, and from what locations). I think the NSA routinely acquires this information from the carriers. Unless they’re all in on it too…

[mjvpi]

63. That's what I was thinking.

Who was talking to who and when will make an interesting road map.

[Corgigal]

58. Just buy the info

from Russia or China. I’m sure they have it.

[LudwigPastorius]

66. Put them all in separate interrogation rooms.

Then tell them, the one who breaks first will be able to get out of prison some day.

The rest, stay inside ADX Florence and are only carried out after they've achieved room temperature.

[Grasswire2]

67. Prediction: We're going to see the same with FBI communications.

Deletions, in the same manner and for the same reason.

Better hope to God this rot doesn't extend to DoJ.

[AntiFascist]

68. Associated with Michael Flynn, no doubt, K&R n/t

[UpInArms]

69. I want them all out of any government role and in prison

All of them

[LetMyPeopleVote]

73. It is time for the DOJ to get involved

Link to tweet

[dchill]

74. This should be a capital crime.

[RussBLib]

75. Who gave that order?

To delete the messages? Someone had to. Call them in for questioning!