Secret Service confiscated 24 agents' phones amid a criminal probe into missing Jan. 6 texts: report

The confiscation took place after the Department of Homeland Security launched a criminal probe into missing texts from around the January 6 attacks.

• Secret Service leadership confiscated 24 agents' phones in July, NBC reported on Tuesday.
• The confiscation took place after the DHS watchdog launched a criminal probe into missing Jan. 6 texts.
• Interest in the phones' contents increased after Cassidy Hutchinson's Jan. 6 committee testimony.

Senior leadership in the US Secret Service confiscated 24 agents' cellphones in July, NBC reported on Tuesday, citing two sources with knowledge of the action.

The confiscation took place shortly after Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari launched a criminal investigation into missing text messages from the period of time surrounding the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

It's not immediately clear what information has been recovered from the phones or why the phones were seized. Cuffari had previously informed the January 6 House committee that text messages had been erased as part of a system-wide systems upgrade.

Interest in the content of agents' phones grew after the bombshell testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who told the committee under oath in late June that President Donald Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent and tried to grab the steering wheel while in a car on January 6, demanding to be taken to the Capitol.

"I'm the effing president!" Trump said, according to Hutchinson's account of the incident. Trump has denied that the incident took place.

Secret Service agents later said they were prepared to dispute Hutchinson's statement under oath as well, though they have not yet done so.