Secret Service is cooperating with Jan. 6 committee — it's individuals from Trump's team who are not: legal analyst

Former Justice Department official and Los Angeles Times legal analyst Harry Litman was on hand to watch Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as she spoke to the Texas Tribune this weekend.

In a clip of Cheney speaking to a crowd, she explained that there would likely be more out of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. She is one of two Republican members on the committee.

The Secret Service has been conflicting with the committee, eliminating evidence despite a warning by the House not to delete text messages or emails that happened on and around Jan. 6, 2021.

Saturday, Cheney revealed that the Secret Service is now cooperating fully with the committee. What has changed is that a number of the top leaders have suddenly "retired" from their posts at the U.S. Secret Service.

One of those is Tony Ornato, who was a member of the White House staff on Jan. 6, not a Secret Service member. However, he went back to working for the USSS after the Trump administration ended. When Mark Meadows' aide, Cassidy Hutchinson testified about Ornato and others, the Jan. 6 committee thought that Ornato was using his position at the U.S. Secret Service to undermine her testimony.

The Secret Service said that Ornato would cooperate, but after he resigned, or "retired," he immediately stopped cooperating with the committee. When asked about it, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said that he just wanted to point out the timeline is the timeline; he didn't make any conclusion about it. Litman said Aguilar was being diplomatic.

"That's of course was why he [Ornato] retired," said Litman. "And the committee between time and the fact that the people can, unfortunately, thumb their nose at him are going to be hard pressed. Not the Department of Justice, however."

He explained that Ornato would be forced to answer questions when it comes to the DOJ subpoenaing him and he can't fight back against the DOJ as he would with Congress.

See the conversation below:

Litman on Cheney and secret serviceyoutu.be