Key Texts Between Trump Dhs Officials Before Jan 6 Missing
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf is seen before he testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 23, 2020. Greg Nash/Pool via REUTERS
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WASHINGTON, July 28 – Text messages between two top security officials from the Donald Trump administration for a key period before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol are missing, the Washington Post said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Messages between acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli, the department’s top officals at the time, were lost “in a ‘reset’ of their government phones when they left their jobs in January 2021,” the newspaper said.
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What To Do If Youve Fallen Victim To A Scam Message Or Phishing Text
If you think you may have passed on personal or financial information to a scammer via a spam message:
- Contact your bank or financial institution immediately to alert them.
- Change all your usernames and passwords across all your accounts.
- Report the fraud to your phone service provider they may have had other customers with the same experience and can take action if they see their customers experiencing similar spam texts.
- Involve law enforcement where financial loss is involved.
Hear What Liz Cheney’s Opponent Isn’t Telling Her Supporters
Donald Trump Jr., Fox News personalities and lawmakers unsuccessfully implored then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 6 to get President Donald Trump to stop the violence unfurling at the US Capitol, according to text messages relayed by the House committee investigating the attack.
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Video: How To Upcycle And Recycle Your Old Gadgets And Smartphones
– It’s out of the blue: Your bank and other legitimate businesses generally won’t use texts as their primary form of communication. If your “bank” texts you asking for some action on your part, check for an accompanying email and call the customer service number listed on the bank’s website to confirm.
– It doesn’t quite make sense. Trust your gut on this one. If the message is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors or seems out of line, it’s likely a scam.
– It contains a funky URL. Spam texts often contain a link. Sometimes, that link appears to lead to a legitimate site, but on closer inspection, a critical word or letter is missing or misspelled. For example, “amazon.com” could become something like “amzon.com.” Strings of numbers and symbols in a link can also be a bad sign, Porter said.
– They’re mean. If you reply to a spam text or open a link, scammers may follow up by calling you. If you ever get a call from a so-called customer service representative who makes you feel embarrassed or stupid, hang up. It’s a classic con-artist tactic to talk down to people until they bend to your suggestions, according to Kurt Baumgartner, principal security researcher at cybersecurity company Kaspersky. In the same vein, it’s usually a red flag if a customer service rep asks to remotely control your computer.
Keep in mind, though, that even if you guard your phone number with your life, scammers still punch in numbers randomly.
Reply Stop To The Sender
Usually when you receive a political text message, you can opt-out. You may see a message in the text body like “reply STOP or unsubscribe to stop receiving messages.” Before responding, however, make sure it’s a legitimate campaign number and not a scammer. If you reply to a scam message, it lets the sender know your number is active.
You may have to text STOP multiple times if several political campaign people are reaching out to you from different numbers.
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And This Is Popular With Political Campaigns
Yes. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was the first to effectively employ this system with Hustle, which employed people to send personal text messages to prospective voters. You’ve likely seen an increase in volume of text messages from local campaigns during an election or primary.
It turns out, you’re more likely to respond to a text message than you are a phone call or email, which often are littered with spam or robocalls.
Trump Turns On Hannity Over Capitol
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Trump turned on Fox News host Sean Hannity over his texts to Trump aides before the Capitol riot.
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Hannity texted a White House aide saying Trump should stop talking about the election being rigged.
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Trump said: “I disagree with Sean on that statement and the facts are proving me right.”
Donald Trump hit out at Fox News Sean Hannity on Wednesday for suggesting days after the Capitol riot that the former president should stop claiming the election was rigged.
The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot on Tuesday released the texts sent by Hannity a prominent supporter of Trump to his former aides including Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff.
They were part of a letter to Hannity requesting that he cooperate with the committee’s investigation.
The letter quoted a text sent by Hannity to Meadows and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan four days after the Capitol riot which said: ” can’t mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I’m not sure what is left to do or say, and I don’t like not knowing if it’s truly understood. Ideas?”
January 6th Committee
Trump told CNN on Wednesday, through a spokesperson: “I disagree with Sean on that statement and the facts are proving me right.”
The spokesperson did not specify which facts they were referring to or how they were being proven right.
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How Did They Get My Phone Number
Political campaigns can get your phone number from a wide range of places. Typically, political campaigns obtain consumers’ phone numbers from public records such as voter files. If youre a registered voter, your information is probably included in these files. Other ways could include if you made a political donation or may have voluntarily signed up to receive more information about a candidate.
How Big Of A Problem Is Spam On Text Messages
Unlike robocalls, which have grown to be a scourge upon essentially everyone, spam text messages are far less of a problem. The CTIA estimates that about 3% of all text messages are spam, compared with nearly half of all e-mails.
That’s largely why campaign text messages seem more legit — there’s less of a stigma around spam in this area.
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How To Stop Political Calls And Text Messages
First it was unwanted calls, then emails. Now, unsolicited political text messages are driving voters crazy this election year. The good news is that there are easy ways to stop them.
You might be receiving political messages at all hours of the day, urging you to help turn the country red or blue and to vote for Joe Biden or President Donald Trump.
The worst is when these texts distract you from something you should be focusing on, such as cooking dinner or driving.
How do they even get your number? Typically, from your voter records, according to RoboKiller, an app that blocks both spam phone calls and texts.
“When you register to vote, your voter file is public record,” Giulia Porter of RoboKiller explained. “Usually you provide your phone number, and it is available to campaigns.”
RoboKiller predicts various campaigns will send almost 3 billion text messages to voters this fall.
Simple ways to stop political texts
Porter says the easiest solution is to text the word “stop“ back to the sender, assuming it is not a scammer.
“So it is OK if you feel this is is a real political campaign,” Porter said. “Then, reply and ask to be removed from the list.”
Legitimate campaigns have agreed to remove anyone who asks to be taken off their calling or texting lists.
Alex Joness Text Messages Turned Over To House Jan 6 Committee
The messages only cover a period up to mid-2020, disappointing investigators who hoped they would shed light on the conspiracy theorists role in the events leading to the attack on the Capitol.
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By Luke Broadwater and Elizabeth Williamson
WASHINGTON A lawyer for plaintiffs who are suing the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Monday turned over more than two years worth of text messages from Mr. Joness phone to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including messages that show Mr. Jones was in touch with allies of former President Donald J. Trump.
But the files do not appear to include text messages from the time most of interest to the committee: the day of Jan. 6, 2021, and the weeks building up to the attack, according to people familiar with the document production.
Though the phone data was retrieved in mid-2021, the most recent message is from mid-2020, according to Mark Bankston, who represents Sandy Hook parents suing Mr. Jones for defamation for lies he spread about the 2012 school shooting. That time period is before Mr. Jones became involved in plans to amass a pro-Trump crowd in Washington to march on the Capitol as Mr. Trump fought to remain in office despite his defeat at the polls.
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Trump Jr And Fox News Hosts Begged Meadows To Help Stop Capitol Attack Texts Show
Three of the networks presenters urged Meadows to push Trump to act while Trump Jr said He has to lead now
Donald Trumps son Donald Trump Jr and three hosts on the Fox News network begged then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to persuade the former president to stop the 6 January insurrection despite their public efforts to downplay it, newly released text messages show.
The sense of panic that enveloped the former presidents inner circle during the attack on the US Capitol was revealed on Monday when Congresswoman Liz Cheney, vice-chair of a House select committee investigating the riot, read aloud texts sent to Meadows.
We need an Oval address, Trump Jr wrote as his fathers supporters were storming the Capitol, sending members of Congress running for their lives and delaying the certification of Joe Bidens victory. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.
Trump Jr added: Hes got to condemn this shit asap.
In response, Meadows texted: Im pushing it hard. I agree.
Cheney also made public frantic messages from three Fox News presenters who became notorious as cheerleaders for the Trump administration and for fanning the flames of his lies about voter fraud. Crossing a line from journalists to informal advisers, they urged Meadows to push Trump to act quickly to stop the siege by his supporters.
Texts Show Republicans Believed Trump Could End Jan 6 Chaos But Didn’t For Hours: Report
Trends Reporter, HuffPost
A trove of text messages obtained by CNN reveal that a number of Republicans were convinced that Donald Trump could immediately stop the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but that the then-president failed to take any action for hours.
The messages began pouring into the cellphone of White House chief of staff within minutes of the breach of the Capitol and throughout the afternoon, with pleas to get Trump to call off the violence, CNN reported.
Republican members of Congress, former members of the Trump administration, Fox News hosts and even Donald Trump Jr. reached out to Meadows, clearly convinced Trump could quell the insurrection aimed at overturning the 2020 election and keeping Trump in office.
POTUS should go on air and defuse this. Extremely important, Tom Price, Trumps secretary of health and human services, texted to Meadows, CNN reported.
POTUS needs to calm this shit down, Rep. Jeff Duncan reportedly messaged Meadows.
Fix this now, wrote Rep. Chip Roy .
Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help? asked Trumps former acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, according to CNN.
TELL THEM TO GO HOME!!! former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus reportedly texted.
Hes to to condem this shit. Asap, Donald Trump Jr. texted.
The messages were among 2,319 texts that Meadows turned over to the House select committee before he stopped cooperating.
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Why Are Candidates Texting Me
Its cheap and effective. The cost to send a text message can be as little as 6 cents. A direct mailer costs as much as 65 cents, political consultants say. Texting has a 98 percent read rate and gets six to eight times the response rate of emails, says Eric Beans, chief executive officer of Texting Base, a cloud-based software company in Orlando that helps companies personalize group text messages.
But there are risks. Texting is very personal. People can very easily get angry about receiving that message, Beans says. The downside is that you annoy the people you are trying to entice.
Key Revelations From The Jan 6 Hearings
An unsettling narrative.During the first hearing, the committee described in vivid detail what it characterized as an attempted coup orchestrated by the former president that culminated in the assault on the Capitol. At the heart of the gripping story were three main players: Mr. Trump, the Proud Boys and a Capitol Police officer.
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How Do I Stop Unwanted Political Texts
Wanta says its important for consumers to know they can revoke their consent at any time.
At any time, you can contact the campaign and say I dont agree to continue to receive this text message,’ Wanta said.
Consumers looking to terminate text communication from political campaigns can reply back with STOP in all caps or other terms associated with opt-out requests including “end,” “unsubscribe,” “cancel,” “quit,” or please opt me out. The only caveat is that you may have to separately opt-out for each political text sent from a different candidate.
You can also write a letter, send an email or call the campaign directly to be taken off the contact list. Wanta says consumers who still receive texts after opting out can file a complaint of illegal texting to the FCC.
What To Do If You Receive A Spam Text
With any spam text messages, you should never reply to them. Doing so confirms to the spammers that youre a real person and a potential target. Sometimes spammers try to trick you into responding by saying, “text STOP to be removed from our mailing list” or something similar. Dont be fooled by this. If you reply, you can expect more spam texts and calls. You are better off not responding at all.
Remember, legitimate organizations such as banks or government agencies dont ask for personal or financial information via unsolicited text messages. So guard your personal data carefully and be careful about how you disclose it online. Be wary of any text message that asks you to update or verify account details.
If you are unsure whether a text message is real or not, the best thing to do is contact the relevant organization directly. You can search for their website via a search engine and then click through from the search engine results page, or else you can type in the URL directly into your address bar. Or you can find out their phone number and call them to check.
You can also report spam texts on the messaging app you use. Look for the option to report junk or spam:
- In Australia, you can complain to the Australian Communications & Media Authority
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Trump Campaign Claims Political Texts Were Sent Manually And Thus Not Illegal
by Jon Brodkin – Jul 24, 2020 5:43 pm UTC
President Trump’s re-election campaign has accused Verizon, AT& T, and T-Mobile of “suppression of political speech” over the carriers’ blocking of spam texts sent by the campaign.
The fight was described Wednesday in an in-depth article by Business Insider and other reports. “The Trump campaign has been battling this month with the biggest US cellphone carriers over an effort to blast millions of cell users with texts meant to coax them to vote or donate,” Business Insider wrote. “President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, didn’t appreciate it when AT& T, Verizon, and T-Mobile blocked mass campaign texts to voters. He called the companies to complain, setting off the legal wrangling.”
When contacted by Ars, a Trump campaign spokesperson said that “any effort by the carriers to restrict the campaign from contacting its supporters is suppression of political speech. Plain and simple.” The Trump campaign statement also said it “stands by the compliance of its texting programs” with the US Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Federal Communications Commission guidelines.
We asked the Trump campaign to explain exactly why the texts are legal and shouldn’t have been blocked but did not get a response. The Trump campaign also did not answer our questions about how many people it tried to send the texts to and about whether the texts were unsolicited or sent to people who had signed up for campaign communications.
