This news came to light because DOD and the Army admitted to it in court filings related to American Oversight’s Freedom of Information Act litigation.
You can read more about the Pentagon’s failure to preserve these important records here, here, here, here, here, here, and here — oh, and here too.
On Jan. 12, 2021, just six days after the insurrection, we submitted four FOIA requests to DOD and the Army seeking senior officials’ communications from Jan. 6 with President Trump, Vice President Pence, and top staff. After receiving no records, we went to court in March 2021.
Since then, DOD and the Army have confirmed in court filings that they had wiped the phones of former senior Trump administration officials — including former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy — while our requests were pending. Any text messages from Jan. 6 were not preserved.
This news is especially troubling because DOD is not the only government agency to have wiped text messages from the day of the deadly insurrection. As we’ve learned in recent weeks through the work of journalists and the select committee investigating the attack, both the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security also failed to preserve officials’ text messages.
Yesterday, we wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to ask him to open a multi-agency investigation into the apparent destruction of federal records — records that could have shed light on critical open questions about the Jan. 6 attack.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren — a member of the Jan. 6 select committee — called it a “concerning matter” and noted that “text messages and all kinds of evidence from the Pentagon would be very important in getting to the bottom of who did what and who knew what on Jan. 6.”
American Oversight’s investigation is ongoing. We have been working to uncover the facts about the Jan. 6 attack for more than a year and a half, and we’ve uncovered dozens of records that fill in key details from the day. Our team has compiled those and other records into a detailed timeline of the federal response to the insurrection — and we’re continuing to pursue lawsuits against multiple agencies to bring more information to light. Follow all the latest updates on our work here.
Thank you for your support and for helping us hold those behind the Jan. 6 attack accountable.
