Jan. 6 committee expects Secret Service to meet Tuesday deadline on text messages

WASHINGTON – Members of the House of Representatives' Jan. 6 committee said Sunday that they expect the Secret Service to meet the Tuesday deadline for providing to the panel the reportedly deleted text messages that agents sent around the Capitol riot.

"They've said we'll meet this deadline, and we'll see what we get here," Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said on CBS News' "Face the Nation."

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., echoed Kinzinger's expectation in an interview with ABC News.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a member of the House committee investigating the riot, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that the committee needs to "get to the bottom" of whether the Secret Service erased text messages related to Jan. 6.

"There’s a requirement for federal agencies to maintain records," she said. “An agency that was such a key part of a critical event in our history, one would assume they have done everything possible to preserve those records, to analyze them, to determine what kind of things went right or went wrong that day.”

Kinzinger added that at the minimum, "it is quite crazy that the Secret Service would actually end up deleting anything related to one of the more infamous days in American history, particularly when it comes to the role of the Secret Service."

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The House committee subpoenaed the Secret Service on Friday for text messages agents reportedly deleted around Jan. 6, 2021.

The disclosure was made to the House and Senate Homeland Security committees in a letter Wednesday from Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, who described "weeks long delays" in obtaining relevant records in its inquiry of the Capitol assault.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday that the claims are "categorically false" and said the agency had been "fully cooperating" with the inspector general.

Jan. 6 committee's next hearing is Thursday

Luria said the hearing Thursday will not only have new witnesses but will also explain step by step what Trump was doing on Jan. 6

"There's other witnesses we've spoken to who have yet to appear in our previous hearings who will add a lot of value and information to the events of that critical time on January 6," she said.

Witnesses for Thursday's hearing have not yet been named. Luria and Kinzinger are leading the hearing, and Kinzinger noted the next one will be eye-opening.

"I can't necessarily say that the motives behind every piece of information we know, we'll be able to explain, but this is going to open people's eyes in a big way," Kinzinger said.

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Contributing: Kevin Johnson, David Jackson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Secret Service is expected to give Jan. 6 panel deleted texts