“Your obstruction of the Committees’ investigations is unacceptable, and your justifications for this noncompliance appear to reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of Congress’s authority and your duties as Inspector General. If you continue to refuse to comply with our requests, you will not we have no choice but to consider alternative measures to ensure your compliance,” Maloney and Thompson wrote.
As CNN reported, the Secret Service texts were deleted as a result of a previously planned data transfer of its agents’ cellphones that began on January 27, 2021, exactly three weeks after the attack on the US Capitol. In their letter on Tuesday, Maloney and Thompson reveal that Cuffari wrote to them on August 8 informing them that he would not comply with their requests. “To protect the integrity of our work and maintain our independence, we do not share information about current affairs, such as the information you requested in your letters,” Cuffari wrote. “Likewise, we do not authorize our staff to participate in off-the-record interviews with your committee on these ongoing matters.”
Cuffari said that once “these matters are resolved,” his office “will consider a new request for documents, briefings or transcribed interviews,” according to Tuesday’s letter.
CNN has requested comment from the DHS IG’s office.
Lawmakers also raised questions about whether Cuffari is using the ongoing criminal investigation into the missing text messages as an excuse to obstruct Congress.
“We are concerned that you are now improperly using a criminal investigation that you only recently announced to withhold evidence from Congress of your misconduct and mismanagement,” Maloney and Thompson said.
In his earlier letter, Cuffari defended how he notified Congress, writing to Maloney and Thompson, “as required by law, I have reported to Congress various access issues that my office has faced since 2021,” and cited the semiannual DHS OIG report sent to Congress in November 2021.
However, Maloney and Thompson state that the November report “made no mention of the Secret Service text messages” and was given to Congress “nine months after Secret Service communications were requested and long after your office knew that the text messages were missing.”
The committee chairs also referred to a memo obtained by the Project on Government Oversight and shared with CNN last week that detailed how federal investigators believed the Secret Service was preventing them from obtaining key information about the agency’s response. on January 6, 2021, it was significantly amended to remove reference to nearly all of these efforts before the final report was presented to lawmakers in June.
Despite Cuffari’s alleged obstruction, Maloney and Thompson resubmitted a request for documents and for DHS OIG staff to be available for interviews by an August 23 deadline.
In his Aug. 8 letter, Cuffari said he would not resign, writing, “Once these matters are resolved, we will consider a new request for documents, updates or interview transcripts.”
Weeks of tension
Tuesday’s letter is the latest in an ongoing exchange between congressional committees and the DHS OIG as multiple probes into why text messages from Secret Service agents from the days surrounding the attack on Capitol Hill were deleted and why it took so long to notify Congress. ongoing. Maloney and Thompson say Cuffari is also hindering their efforts at another investigation. Since May 10, the committee chairs have been requesting documents related to reports that Cuffari’s office tried to “censor or delay” findings of domestic abuse and sexual harassment by DHS employees. “In response to our requests, your office withheld responsive documents and instead produced a copy of a letter you previously sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to their separate investigation,” Maloney and Thompson wrote. Cuffari informed Maloney and Thompson that he has sought the advice of the Office of Legal Counsel “regarding whether I am permitted to release deliberative records and information to Congress.” Maloney and Thompson call Cuffari’s request to the Office of Legal Counsel “extremely unusual” and question whether it is “a delaying tactic intended to obstruct the Committees’ investigation.” This story has been updated.
