OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
In a shocker cell phone companies have informed Congress that they have intact phone usage data from the vicinity of where two pipe bombs where discovered near the Capitol Building ahead of the January 6, 2021, riot there.
The incident took place on January 6, 2021, during the protests. Since then, mystery has surrounded who is responsible for planting the bombs near the Republican and Democrat headquarters, Just The News reported.
Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the House Administration oversight subcommittee chairman, made the revelation in an interview with the outlet.
“In the days and weeks following January 6, 2021, the FBI opened an investigation into the pipe bomber and attempted to identify the suspect by analyzing cell phone data linked to the area surrounding the RNC and DNC,” the Republican said in the interview.
“In June 2023, the former Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Steve D’Antuono, who oversaw the pipe bomb investigation, said that the FBI received corrupted data from one of the cell carriers and that it most likely contained the identity of the pipe bomber. Given the significance of this information, my Subcommittee sent letters to the three major cell carriers, asking them to respond to Mr. D’Antuono’s claim of corrupted data,” the representative said.
“Every major cell carrier responded and confirmed that they did not provide the FBI corrupted data,” he said.
“Additionally, every major cell carrier confirmed they were never notified that the FBI had any issues accessing the data. This contradictory testimony raises some serious questions about the status of the investigation into the pipe bomber and about why the case remains unsolved nearly four years later,” he said.
D’Antuono spoke to the House Judiciary Committee and said that the FBI did not get complete phone data from the carriers as it was corrupted.
“We did a complete geofence. We have complete data. Not complete, because there’s some data that was corrupted by one of the providers, not purposely by them, right. It is just an unusual circumstance that we have corrupt data from one of the providers,” he said in the interview.
“But for that day, which is awful because we don’t have that information to search. So, could it have been that provider? Yeah, with our luck, you know, with this investigation, it probably was, right,” he said.
On October 16 Loudermilk penned a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray to inquire about the veracity of D’Antuono’s testimony and to question whether or not the FBI went back to the cell phone carriers to retrieve uncorrupted data.
“As you may know, the Subcommittee is conducting an investigation into the events of January 5 and January 6, 2021. The Subcommittee is not asking the FBI to comment on any specific suspect or the means, methods, or sources of the FBI’s investigation. Rather, the Subcommittee requests that the FBI provide a response to Mr. D’Antuono’s claim that the FBI received corrupted data. Your written responses to the following questions will assist the Subcommittee in conducting a review of the events of those days and in ensuring the safety and security of the United States Capitol Complex,” he said in the letter.
“I, therefore, ask that you respond in writing to the following questions,” he said before listing the queries.
- Did the FBI receive corrupted or otherwise unusable cellular data returns from one or more of the cell carriers in connection with the investigation into the individual who planted two explosive devices at the RNC and DNC on the evening of January 5, 2021?
- If so, which cell carrier(s) provided corrupted data to the FBI?
- If so, how was the cellular data transmitted to the FBI? (Drop Box, Hard Drive, file transfer, etc.)
- If so, was any third-party entity involved in transmitting the cellular data to the FBI?
- If the FBI received corrupted or otherwise unusable cellular data returns, did the FBI inform the cell carrier(s) that provided corrupted data that the data they provided was corrupted or otherwise unusable?
- If so, did the FBI make any attempt to obtain an uncorrupted or otherwise usable version of the data? Please describe in writing the efforts made to retrieve an uncorrupted version of the data.
