Jamie Raskin grills trump-appointed DHS official over deleted jan 6th messages, failure to inform Congress

[butters]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/s...p&cvid=83a3c9fa08654ac3c749c3b58291eb11&ei=83

“Your duty under the Inspector General Act is to immediately report flagrant and serious abuses that are taking place. You were aware, at least as early as May of 2021, that the Secret Service had erased thousands of text messages that were sent before and during the January 6th violent attack on the Capitol, the Congress, and the vice president,” Raskin began, adding:

But you failed to notify Congress for 14 months, for a year and two months that the Secret Service was refusing to comply with your requests for information. So why didn’t you immediately report as you’re statutorily bound to do these serious and flagrant failures to answer your questions about the disappearance of thousands of texts that were sent during January 6th?

“Just so the record’s clear, Congressman. We were not informed by the Secret Service on the date that you described in ‘21. In fact, at no time in ‘21 were we informed that Secret Service had deleted and was no longer able to retrieve text messages on cell phones owned by the Secret Service,” Cuffari replied.

“So when did you become aware of that?” Raskin pressed.

“In February, I believe, of 2022,” Cuffari replied.

“Well, we have documents showing that just six weeks after the initial request for documents from the Secret Service, you canceled requests to the Secret Service for phone records and text messages. Why did you do that?” Raskin followed up.

there's more

 

[butters]

Cuffari is under investigation by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that he routinely deletes text messages from his government phone — a possible violation of government record keeping laws.

“It’s my normal practice to delete text messages,” Cuffari said, answering “correct” when Ivey asked if he does this on an ongoing basis.

The two then sparred over whether those phone records should be retained.

“I don’t use my government cellphone to conduct official business,” Cuffari said

Deleting the text messages could violate both DHS policy as well as federal records laws. The Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group that has called for Cuffari to be fired, said a 2014 DHS policy requires employees to preserve text messages on their government-issued phones.

fuck the rules, it's only government. make it up as you go along and delete, deny, delete some more the republican way

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...p&cvid=de18f77473ff451d9b4cfae6b0816e53&ei=77

 

[jaF0]

Why is this goof still there?

U.S. News // 15 minutes ago
Democratic lawmakers call for DHS inspector general to resign after he deletes texts
June 8 (UPI) -- Democratic lawmakers are calling for Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, to resign after he admitted to deleting text messages from his government phone.​

 

[butters]

couldn't find the proper (imo) thread for this (so many trump cases, eek) so putting it here:

Former President Trump’s legal team is asking a judge to toss his prosecution in his federal election interference case, arguing that it’s a vindictive prosecution that violates his free speech while seeking to distance Trump from the attack on the Capitol.

In a series of late Monday motions filed minutes before a midnight deadline, Trump’s attorneys echo many of his oft-repeated lines from the campaign trial, arguing he was simply raising questions about the 2020 election and shouldn’t be held responsible for the storming of the building.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...p&cvid=29a8e36e6cbe422c98bf468c37c59902&ei=31

“Because the Government has not charged President Trump with responsibility for the actions at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, allegations related to these actions are not relevant and are prejudicial and inflammatory. Therefore, the Court should strike these allegations from the Indictment,” his attorneys wrote in a motion to strike “inflammatory allegations” from Trump’s indictment.

how i'd love to see a one-word response from Smith: "Yet.

Special counsel Jack Smith acknowledged in his four-count indictment that Trump could lawfully challenge his electoral loss, but his office contends that Trump illegally sought to block the transfer of power by relying on fraudulent claims and by illegally conspiring to block the official counting of electoral votes by Congress.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...p&cvid=29a8e36e6cbe422c98bf468c37c59902&ei=31

his defense team would have us believe the DOJ has taken on the role of 'thought police' in order to minimize their client's criminality