Secret Service director delaying retirement amid investigations into agency
By Whitney Wild, CNNUpdated: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 20:38:58 GMTSource: CNNUS Secret Service Director James Murray is delaying his retirement from the service as the agency faces inquiries from Congress and
By Whitney Wild, CNNUpdated: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 20:38:58 GMT
Source: CNN
US Secret Service Director James Murray is delaying his retirement from the service as the agency faces inquiries from Congress and elsewhere over its deletion of text messages around January 6, 2021, Murray said in a message to his workforce.
"I feel strongly about using this time to oversee and ensure our agency's continued cooperation, responsiveness, and full support with respect to ongoing Congressional and other inquiries," Murray wrote in his message. "Doing so is critically important and I am especially grateful for the extra time to help lead our Service ever forward."
CNN previously reported that the US Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021. The text messages at issue may have been deleted when the agency conducted a data migration of phones that began January 27, 2021.
The Department of Homeland Security inspector general asked last year for the text records of 24 individuals at the Secret Service who were involved in January 6, but only one text had been produced. After the issue spilled into public view this month, the inspector general launched a criminal investigation into the matter, and lawmakers demanded answers from the Secret Service to go back and find out what happened to the texts that may have been deleted.
According to a letter sent from the Secret Service to the House select committee investigating the insurrection, which has also sought messages around the day of the attack from the agency, the inspector general asked for records from the 24 personnel in June 2021 -- more than two months after the migration had been completed.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
