Legal analyst Marcy Wheeler noted that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows got a new cell phone after he finished his time in Donald Trump's administration.
One of the text messages revealed by Congress sent to Meadows on Jan.5 encouraged him to check his Signal account. Nothing else was said via text message.
Oh.\n\nThis could get interesting.\n\nMark Meadows no longer has the phone on which this text was received. \n\nI assume the Signal account in question was on that same phone. \n\nIt's ... difficult to backup Signal off a phone.pic.twitter.com/YNsYcbcae5— emptywheel (@emptywheel) 1639582256
Going to turn this into a running thread:\n\nTradecraft shared by the Trump administration and hostile intelligence officers, organized criminals, drug cartels, terrorists, and pedophiles to avoid law enforcement. https://twitter.com/petestrzok/status/1463324259103780864\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/PuQC4Jce03— Peter Strzok (@Peter Strzok) 1639584297
Nothing says innocent like \u201ccheck your Signal\u201d.pic.twitter.com/BuKAo6p9Id— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1639582841
Meadows writes in his book that his BMW wouldn't start so he bought a new car. But he also got a new phone, saying he turned it into his carrier. It means that the Signal messages he exchanged may have been lost along with that phone.
Signal is an app that boasts an encrypted instant messaging service, that Meadows used along with others trying to communicate off the record.
One of the problems for Meadows, however, is that if the individual he was communicating with didn't clear their phone or remove the data, the Meadows communication could still be available on Signal.
It was reported Tuesday evening that the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol subpoenaed the phones of Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Jody Hice (R-GA), Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Scott Perry (R-PA).
