‘”Coverup of treason’: Trump-appointed IG, facing investigation, was aware of missing Secret Service and DHS texts far earlier” by David Badash of Alternet is a blaring headline I saw across my browser feed. A few paragraphs tell the story, with a link to the full article below.
“The Dept. of Homeland Security scandal is growing larger, with its embattled Inspector General increasingly appearing to be at the center of what one noted political scientist is calling a ‘coverup of treason.’
DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, appointed by then-President Donald Trump in 2019, was aware of Secret Service agents’ deleted text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, and deleted texts from top Homeland Security officials, months earlier than first disclosed, according to reports from CNN and The Washington Post.
‘Earlier this month, Secret Service officials told congressional committees that DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, the department’s independent watchdog, was aware that texts had been erased in December 2021,’ CNN reports. ‘But sources tell CNN, the Secret Service had notified Cuffari’s office of missing text messages in May 2021, seven months earlier.’
That means that four months after the January 6 insurrection the Dept. of Homeland Security knew Secret Service agents’ text messages, from the day before and day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, were missing and did not inform Congress or the National Archives, which is required by law to retain those records.”
There are several observations to be made here. First, what forced President Richard Nixon to resign and sent forty-eight (per Wikipedia) others to jail as much as the Watergate crimes committed was the coverup. Second, members of the Secret Service have been acting very inconsistently since the testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson on the former president Donald Trump trying to grab the steering wheel in anger when told he could not go to the Capitol building as it was not safe. Third, what several fellow bloggers and I have discussed from well before the insurrection and bogus election fraud claims, is what happens beneath the surface of Donald Trump’s world is likely far worse than actually known.
The last statement is indeed opinion, but it has been his history to market and merchandise himself, so a great deal of his energy and effort is to protect his brand name when he screws up. Of course, he his loathe to admit he makes mistakes, per his five biographers. This is why he has a fixer, one of whom testified under oath that “Donald Trump is a racist, he is a con-artist and he is cheat.”
And, quite often, others are taken down as his foils and suffer the consequences. His nickname is “Teflon Don” for a reason. Blame others to escape culpability. Right now, his last Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows is in the cross hairs, but maybe he will throw Joseph Cuffari under the bus as well.
Finally, what frightens current and departing sycophants of Donald Trump is what lies beneath the surface. They have no idea what they will have to defend tomorrow or the next week or the next month. And, what is more frightening are these sins and crimes have already been committed, so it is a matter of discovery not committal.
musingsofanoldfart 
Why am I not surprised? It seems that there are no depths beneath which he and his band of merry men will not sink. He has almost re-defined the word corrupt. And yet … a large number of people would still vote for him today. I think perhaps it says more about people than it does about Trump & Co. We must do everything possible to ensure that his name is nowhere on the ballot in 2024, to remove the temptation from those who don’t understand where he would lead this nation. Thanks, Keith … this was news to me!
Jill, true on all counts. It is funny, I have tended to use the words “seditious actions” rather than “treason,” but treason is an apt term to define what he has done and is still doing. Here is a person who has made a living off perception, often using smoke and mirrors to give an elusion of grandeur. But, he usually just sold his name for royalties and backed out if a deal was headed south. That modus operandi is how he ran his presidency. Those who still support him drank the Kool-Aid and will charge off a cliff for him to mix metaphors. Keith
Like you, I’ve tried to avoid the extreme word ‘treason’, but more and more I think that is exactly what he has done … and as you say, is still doing and would do if he were given the keys to the Oval Office yet again. He is a destructive person who doesn’t care one whit how much of this nation he destroys as long as he gets what he wants out of it. If I have but one wish for this nation, it is that people wake up and smell the coffee, realize that whatever he promises is a lie, and that he has not got our best interests in his mind, but only his own.
Jill, “destructive” is an apt word. It is akin to the toddler who clears the checker board pieces to the floor when he loses. Now, Donald go to your room. Keith
The corruption of Trump like fingers continue to spread throughout our democratic institutions. If there is no one held account we are in dire danger of losing our democracy. Does the DOJ and Biden have a tongue?
Holly, I have long felt charges should be brought against the corrupt acting former president. We must hold him to account. Keith
We must. Or the future is a green light for authoritarians and dictators above the law.
Agreed. And, no one deserves to truly be held to account more than Donald J. Trump.
One held account. Of course.
I will fix it.
Thank you 😊
Whenever Security Forces are involved, by their very nature there are wheels within wheels, of if you prefer boxes within boxes. Add to this the inter-office rivalry and the suspicion that someone might not be ‘one of us’, then the idea much beloved of fiction writers of a monolithic organisation soon falls apart.
Whether documents were deleted by some to avoid evidence they misjudged the situation, and thus protect their careers, or there were rogues who favoured Trump, or there was a complete screw-up will probably remain lost forever.
The fact is, as at 9/11 the Security Apparatus was either found wanting, or to add to the fog there was a strategy of letting Trump have enough rope to hang himself, one which went wrong on the 6th January, as insufficient boots on the ground had been deployed to stifle the mob. (failure to communicate with other agencies- the bane of most multi-organisational operations).
A hearing is all well and good, but pursuit of lawbreakers in all stripes pre and post 6th January is essential, irrespective of their title in the elected process.
And finally to steal and adapt the words of Cato The Elder used during each speech in the Seante during the Roman-Carthaginian wars.
‘Furthermore, I maintain that Donald Trump is a base and opportunistic traitor to The USA. Win Back America,’
Well said. Thanks Roger.
Best wishes to you all.
The true patriots of the USA.
Thanks Roger. Sometimes I feel like we are running uphill.
You are Keith.
6th January 2021 was another day which will live infamy.
In a domestic political situation there are comparisons. The foe, an aggressive, authoritarian group based on a corrupted code is making progress. The engine of Democracy is not yet geared up to its full potential. This needs to be harnessed and channelled, resolutely.
I repeat, not being involved is no longer an option.
Thanks Roger for being a voice of reason and encouragement. Keith