Senate chair to Horowitz: Open a probe into wiped Mueller phones for destroyed data, record retention, transparency

Daniel Payne
Just the News
Sat, 12 Sep 2020 03:48 UTC

© AP Photo/Steve Helber

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson on Friday asked Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz to open an investigation into the dozen-plus phones belonging to associates of the Robert Mueller special counsel that had been wiped of data prior to being surrendered to investigators.

Government documents released this week listed multiple phones belonging to members of Mueller's Russia collusion probe as having been cleared of all data before they were handed over to Horowitz's office. Many of the phones, according to the documents, were purged of data after the users entered incorrect passwords too many times.

In his letter, Johnson — the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — said the missing data "raise[s] concerns about record retention and transparency."

The senator asked Horowitz's office to "open an investigation into this matter to determine what, why, and how information was wiped, whether any wrongdoing occurred, and who these devices belonged to."

Johnson also asked Horowitz to explain "when and how [his] office was made aware of this matter," what steps the office took to "confirm whether information on these phones had been wiped," whether or not the phones in question had "text message capabilities," and if Horowtiz's office has "the capability to retrieve the information from these phones?"

The letter asks for a response "no later than September 18, 2020."

Comment: Others are requesting similar information on the blatant erasure of recorded messages and call logs:

Johnson's request followed a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to the FBI and Justice Department inquiring about the wiped phones and demanding that they produce all records Mueller's team did turn over, as well as unredacted copies of the FOIA documents.

Horowitz has mounted similar probes into the handling of internal messages by FBI agents involved in the Russia probe and mounted a major effort to retrieve messages deleted from some FBI phones. Horowitz detailed his findings and retrieval methods in a 2018 report.

Andrew Weissmann, who was the top prosecutor on Mueller's team, is listed twice on separate dates. One record states: "AAW accidentally wiped cell phone -- data lost": a second states: "entered password too many times and wiped his phone."

Trump talked about Weissmann during his Saturday evening rally in Nevada, saying there "has to be repercussions" for the deletions.

And Trump had more to say!

"ALERT: So now we find out that the entire Mueller 'hit squad' illegally wiped their phones clean just prior to the investigation of them," Trump tweeted.

He heaped scorn on the "really dumb" excuses that members of Mueller's team rolled out to explain why more than two dozen cell phones they used during the two-year investigation of Trump-Russia collusion allegations were rendered useless before the Justice Department's inspector general could check them.

"Just like Crooked Hillary [Clinton] smashing her phones with a hammer, & DELETING HER EMAILS!" Trump scoffed.

See also:

New DOJ documents show wholesale destruction of evidence by Mueller team - 30 phones 'accidentally' wiped!