Democrats urge DHS IG Joseph Cuffari to resign over deleted texts

A pair of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday demanded that the Department of Homeland Security inspector general resign over revelations that he routinely deletes text messages from his government-issued phone.

In a scathing letter, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member on the House Committee on Homeland Security, and Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability, argued that DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari was “unfit to lead an agency responsible for preventing and detecting fraud and abuse.”

“We write to you today calling on you to immediately resign from your position as Inspector General. Because of your admission to your ‘normal practice’ of deleting ‘business’ text messages from your government-issued phone — willful and intentional acts that may constitute criminal violations of the Federal Records Act,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Cuffari made the surprising admission during testimony before the Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability subcommittee on Tuesday, as Ivey questioned him on his handling of an investigation into missing Secret Service text messages.

“It’s my normal practice to delete text messages,” Cuffari said, adding, “Correct,” when Ivey asked if he follows this practice on an ongoing basis. 

“I don’t use my government cellphone to conduct official business,” Cuffari claimed. 

“I did not consider those to be federal records and therefore I deleted them,” the inspector general said of the deleted messages. “It’s a clearly defined statute that places requirements on what a federal record actually is.”

Ivey and Thompson argue in the letter that it is not Cuffari’s “call to make” in determining whether his text messages are federal records that must legally be retained.

“It is troubling, to say the least, that you have been routinely destroying or deleting official government records in violation of a law that your office is supposed to enforce. Because you apparently admitted to multiple violations of Federal criminal law, you should resign immediately,” the lawmakers write.

Cuffari, an appointee of former President Trump, is currently under investigation by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency after he delayed informing members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building that Secret Service messages from that day were lost in a software transition.

Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Thompson — who also chaired the Jan. 6 panel — accused Cuffari of a “lack of transparency and independence” during the probe into the Capitol riot.