Secret Service agents asked for record of seized Jan. 6 communications — but were denied

Secret Service agents asked for a record of all the communications seized from their personal phones in the Jan. 6 investigation but were reportedly turned down.

The agents requested the records in early August through the Freedom of Information Act Program, but the Secret Service office that handles those petitions denied them -- underscoring a tension between rank-and-file agents and the agency's leadership, reported NBC News.

“This letter is the final response to your Privacy Act inquiry submitted on Aug. 4, 2022, for information pertaining to the release of personal cell phone information and/or other personal identifiable information (PII) by the U.S. Secret Service,” the office said in a letter dated Oct. 5. “The agency has determined that regulation does not require a records disclosure accounting to be made in connection with your request."

Congress and the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general became interested in obtaining those communications after they learned they had been erased as part of what the Secret Service called a planned upgrade.