Storm on the Capitol
Deleted Pentagon SMS increase suspicion of targeted cover-up by Trump administration
If the cell phone traffic from the Pentagon and the army on January 6 proves that he is responsible for the storming of the Capitol, Donald Trump can rest easy. The messages are apparently lost.
© Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP
Although the committee of inquiry into the Capitol storm is on its summer break, the revelations continue. Now it has become known that January 6 messages have disappeared from the cellphones of senior Pentagon officials. And not only there.
Cell phone traffic before and during the storming of the Capitol in Washington is considered a treasure trove of evidence. But as it turns out, the parliamentary committee of inquiry will not be able to rely on the material by January 6, 2021. First it became known that the SMS traffic of the Secret Service during the attack on the US parliament building was deleted for controversial reasons and allegedly cannot be restored. Now the independent control organization American Oversight court records releasedwho point out that all high-level officials in the US Department of Defense had their cellphones deleted as of January 6th.
The service cell phones of high-ranking officials from both the Pentagon and the army are affected. The mobile phones of then Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy are no exception. The deletion is said to have been carried out in accordance with Pentagon and Army guidelines for departing employees. The files therefore contain the succinct note: “The text messages were not kept.”
Capitol Storm: National Guard mobilized very late
The loss of these SMS and other cell phone messages is sensitive because among the people in question are those responsible for mobilizing the National Guard. In the event of an event as serious and endangering state order as the storming of the parliament building in the capital, they should have been alerted almost immediately. But according to previous information, Secretary of Defense Miller did not move the National Guard in the capital until an hour and a half after the first barricades on the Capitol had been breached. Intent or sloppiness? Was Donald Trump responsible for the delay? Answers to these questions were suspected in the text messages, which are now apparently lost.
Even more: “From the reports of the Secret Service and senior officials of the DHS [Heimatschutzministerium, Anm. der Red.] It’s pretty clear that this isn’t just a DOD issue [Verteidigungsministerium, Anm. d. Red.] is not just an army problem, but an interagency problem, the Washington Post quoted a spokeswoman for America Oversight as saying. There is increasing suspicion that cell phone messages on and on January 6 were deleted in all relevant areas of the Trump administration. In a letter to Justice Secretary and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the organization called for an investigation into the disappearance of the messages. According to the newspaper, Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat, had approached Garland with a similar request.
Pentagon official: ‘No one tried to hide anything’
Both the Justice Department and the Army declined to comment on the allegations. An unnamed Pentagon official, who wished to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue, described deleting the messages as a standard “process.” He emphasized to the “Post” but: “No one tried to hide or cover up anything. That would be a wrong narrative.” American Oversight points out that requests under the Freedom of Information Act were filed with various government agencies just a week after the storming of the Capitol. The messages were apparently deleted after the requests were submitted.
Sources: American Oversight, Letter to Attorney General Garland, Court Records United States District Court for the District of Columbia, “Washington Post”