In late Thursday news, it was reported the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) notified Congress that US Secret Service (USSS) deleted text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021 after the OIG had requested them for its investigation into the insurrection.
Not being able to trust federal law enforcement officers that they will act professionally and non-partisan is bad enough, especially since there are federal laws about maintaining government records whether there is an investigation or not. The real shocker is the USSS official response to the OIG letter:
… the Secret Service began to reset its mobile phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration.
Now I’m an IT guy by trade, but it should be obvious to the most casual observer this is a ludicrous claim. How many of you factory-reset your phone THREE MONTHS before getting a new one? Sure, I probably won’t need my contacts, WiFi passwords, email configuration, saved emails, photos, music and everything else on my phone in the next three months!