More than two dozen cellphones belonging to members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team were “wiped” clean of their data before the Justice Department’s inspector general could check them, according to a report.
Newly released DOJ records show the phones were wiped of the data because of forgotten passcodes, irreparable screen damage, loss of the device and intentional deletion, among other reasons, Fox News reported.
Mueller deputy Andrew Weissman “accidentally wiped” his device twice after he entered the wrong passcode too many times in March 2018, according to the documents cited by Fox News.
Attorney James Quarles’ phone “wiped itself” of the data without his input, say the records, which were released after a lawsuit from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, the network reported.
The documents also show that a phone belonging to then-FBI attorney Lisa Page — who exchanged anti-Trump texts with fellow agent Peter Strzok — was restored to factory settings when the Inspector General’s Office got it, according to Fox News.
Mueller’s probe found no evidence of criminal conspiracy or “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russian officials — although it did claim that the Kremlin “interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systemic fashion.”