WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2020) At least 30 phones used by investigators on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team appear to have been wiped clean by users before the devices were either returned to the Justice Department or reassigned to new users, according to documents released by the Justice Department.
The data erasures were disclosed in a 87-page file released on Thursday - a file that appeared to consist of a compilation of responses to multiple Freedom of Information Act requests that begin with Justice Department memos regarding texts between former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Both were dismissed by Mueller in the summer of 2016 over an exchange of multiple text messages disparaging then-candidate and future President Donald Trump.
The 87-page file includes a four-page inventory spreadsheet containing more than 100 entries, each applying to a single phone that was either transferred to a new user or returned to the Justice Department.
In many, if not most cases, data appeared to have been erased by the users themselves. Some users claimed they entered the wrong password too many times. Another common explanation was that the user forgot the passcode. One user even claimed the phone had "wiped itself without intervention from him."
It could not be determined from the documents if anything nefarious had taken place, although the erasures could present an obstacle for Senate investigators, who are attempting to determine why and how the Mueller probe of alleged collusion between Trump and Russia began.
Mueller's final report completed in the spring of 2019, showed no collusion had taken place between Russia and the Trump campaign, or with aides during the subsequent transition, giving heft to repeated claims by Trump that he had been victimized in a witch hunt by FBI and congressional Democrats, who were determined to overturn results of the 2016 presidential election.
