Grassley Presses for Answers on iPhones Wiped by Mueller Staff

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Capitol Hill on March 16, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday requested records and answers from the heads of the Justice Department and the FBI about the wiping of data from a large number of smartphones used by members of the special counsel team run by Robert Mueller, who was investigating alleged collusion between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russia.

“It appears that Special Counsel Mueller’s team may have deleted federal records that could be key to better understanding their decision-making process as they pursued their investigation and wrote their report. Indeed, many officials apparently deleted the records after the DOJ Inspector General began his inquiry into how the Department mishandled Crossfire Hurricane," Grassley wrote in a letter to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray in reference to the investigation opened by the FBI that was taken over by Mueller.

"Moreover, based on this new information, the number of times and the stated reasons for the deletions calls into question whether or not it was a widespread intentional effort."

The Department of Justice released 87 pages of documents on Thursday as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request brought by Judicial Watch. The documents include a log of dozens iPhones used by members of the special counsel's office with notes taken by an official who reviewed each device when it was turned in to determine if it contained government records.

The log shows that data was completely wiped from 22 iPhones, including at least two which were wiped twice. On 11 occasions, special counsel employees said they wiped the data on their phones by accident. On seven other occasions, employees wiped their devices claiming they input the wrong password too many times causing the phone to wipe itself.

The FBI and the DOJ did not respond to requests for comment.

Grassley is asking the DOJ to provide an unredacted version of the documents released on Thursday. He is also requesting all of the records from government phones used by Mueller's staff and any records relating to the explanation for why each employee deleted the data from their phones. The senator is also inquiring if the matter is under investigation and whether the DOJ has attempted to forensically recover data from the phones.

The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (IG) had in 2018 detailed an extensive effort to recover the text messages from the special counsel phones used by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page. The phones had both been wiped before the IG investigators found them.

Page and Strzok texted each other about their hatred of Trump, wanting to stop him from becoming president, and an "insurance policy" in the event he was elected. Strzok was removed from the special counsel's office when the IG informed Mueller about the messages. With the exception of Page's phone, all of the phones were wiped in the months after the messages between Page and Strzok were made public in early 2018.

The wiping of so many phones by employees working on what was at the time the highest-profile investigation in the United States is sure to raise concerns that the deleted data may have contained evidence of improper or criminal conduct. One FBI attorney who was discovered to have sent text messages that were biased against President Donald Trump has since pleaded guilty in federal court to a false statement charge in connection to an email he forged.

"Congress and the American people are owed answers regarding Special Counsel Mueller and his team," Grassley wrote.

Correction: a previous version of this article incorrectly state the number of phones used by the Mueller team which were wiped prior to a records review. At least 22 phones were wiped. The Epoch Times regrets the error.