Timeline: How missing Secret Service text messages sparked row over Jan 6 Capitol riot

After 18 months of the US capitol riots, which took place on January 6, 2021, questions over potential deleted Secret Service text messages relating to the incident sparked a row earlier this month. It triggered a fresh line of inquiry for the House Committee on January 6 as well as concerns about the function of the organisation and the Inspector General, Joseph Cuffari.

However, the concern over the potential loss of text messages predates by more than a year, as the Secret Service and the watchdog held discussions over the loss of data on several occasions. According to a CNN report, Inspector General Cuffari's office came to know about the missing texts in March 2021 itself. 

Here's the timeline which shows how the Secret Service text messages came to be one of the primary questions for the House committee probing the incident. 

• January 16, 2021: Ten days after the Capitol riot, four House committees wrote a letter to Homeland Security and other pertinent organisations requesting that they keep data pertaining to January 6. It's still unknown if the Secret Service got the letter. 
• January 25, 2021: The Secret Service sent reminders to staff members that a planned data migration would erase their phones and provided instructions on how to retain the content on their phones. Employees were exclusively responsible for saving records that were required to be retained by law. 
• March 25, 2021: House committee chairs request documents and communications pertaining to the attack on January 6 in letters to the White House and various federal agencies. The Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of the Secret Service, was one of the organisations that received a letter.
• May 2021: Missing text messages associated with the phone data migration issue were reported by the Secret Service to the DHS inspector general. When the Secret Service discovered the texts were missing, they tried contacting a cellphone provider to get them back, CNN reported citing sources. 
• July 2021: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states that the inspector general's office is no longer looking for the Secret Service text messages. 
• December 2021: The Secret Service text message investigation was reopened by the DHS inspector general.
• March 25, 2021: Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant in the Trump White House, testifies before the House select committee. She claims that after being informed that he could not visit the Capitol on January 6, former President Donald Trump and his Secret Service entourage got into a furious argument.
• July 15, 2022: The House Select Committee receives a briefing on the Secret Service texts from the Inspector General's office. The select committee files a subpoena for documents pertaining to January 6 the same day.
• July 20, 2022: As part of an ongoing criminal investigation, DHS deputy inspector general Gladys Ayala writes to the Secret Service to inform them that the inspector general's office is looking into the circumstances around the potential deleted texts.

Secret Service notified Cuffari's office of missing text in May 2021: Report

Earlier this month, Secret Service representatives testified before congressional committees that the independent watchdog for DHS, Joseph Cuffari, was aware of the deleted text in December 2021. However, the Secret Service had notified Cuffari's office of missing text in May 2021 itself, CNN reported citing sources. 

These new facts emerged as Cuffari is under increasing pressure from prominent Democrats to give over his inquiry into the missing texts. Additionally, they coincide with the discovery that text messages belonging to the two senior DHS officers, under previous President Donald Trump, are missing for a crucial time frame preceding the attack on January 6.

January 6 Capitol riots 

The incident occurred following Donald Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 US presidential elections. The Republican, on the other hand, refused to accept the loss, claiming that the Democrats had rigged the election and that he had won.

On the same day that Congress met to certify the election results, Donald Trump staged a "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, DC, which drew thousands of his fans. Hundreds of supporters marched to the Capitol during the demonstration, with a large group storming the building. As Trump supporters stormed the building, five protestors and a police officer were killed, and over a hundred law enforcement personnel were injured.

Image: AP