bitchy | Whoopsie, the Pentagon erased all of their phone records from 1/6/21 too

On January 6th, 2021, Americans watched in horror as terrorists overtook the Capitol, smeared feces on the walls and built a gallows to hang the vice president and members of Congress. The terrorist attack was a coordinated effort between Republicans in office, the Trump administration, powerful GOP figures (like Ginni Thomas) and domestic terrorist organizations. Part of the work of the January 6th Committee is investigating just how far-reaching the terrorist organization was within the government, and uncovering the post-Jan. 6th coverup.

The committee has run into multiple roadblocks as they try to recreate what was happening on the actual day though. Weeks ago, we learned that the Secret Service had mysteriously wiped all of their texts from January 6th. Last week, we also learned that key figures in Homeland Security – including the then-acting secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli – also erased their texts from that period. Reams of evidence in a domestic terrorist attack just VANISHED. And it’s getting even worse: the Pentagon also erased texts and phone records from key DOD figures.

The Defense Department wiped the phones of top departing DOD and Army officials at the end of the Trump administration, deleting any texts from key witnesses to events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to court filings.

The acknowledgment that the phones from the Pentagon officials had been wiped was first revealed in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit American Oversight brought against the Defense Department and the Army. The watchdog group is seeking January 6 records from former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, among other prominent Pentagon officials — having filed initial FOIA requests just a few days after the Capitol attack.

Miller, Patel and McCarthy have all been viewed as crucial witnesses for understanding government’s response to the January 6 Capitol assault and former President Donald Trump’s reaction to the breach. All three were involved in the Defense Department’s response to sending National Guard troops to the US Capitol as the riot was unfolding. There is no suggestion that the officials themselves erased the records.

The government’s assertion in the filings that the officials’ text messages from that day were not preserved is the latest blow to the efforts to bring transparency to the events of January 6. It comes as the Department of Homeland Security is also under fire for the apparent loss of messages from the Secret Service that day.

[From CNN]

So, no texts or phone records from the Secret Service, Homeland Security officials AND Department of Defense officials, all centered around the key time period before, during and after January 6th, 2021. It was clear at the time that this was an attempted coup, but to see this plain coverup is infuriating. It’s past time for AG Merrick Garland and the Biden Department of Justice to treat this like a massive terrorist conspiracy. Treat these motherf–kers like they’re Al Qaeda.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.