The Secret Service confiscated the phones of two dozen agents involved in the response to last year's attack on the US Capitol, a bombshell new report claimed on Tuesday.

They were given to the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's office, people familiar with the matter told NBC News. 

Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, a Trump appointee, informed the Secret Service in July that he was opening a criminal investigation into missing text messages from January 5 and 6 last year.

Messages that could have been of interest to multiple investigations into the January 6 riot - including the House select committee's high-profile probe - had been erased after Cuffari's office had requested them, according to a letter he sent to the relevant House and Senate committees.

Days later, Cuffari's deputy asked the agency on July 19 to halt 'further investigative activities regarding the collection and preservation of the evidence' in the texts. 

The 24 phones were reportedly given to the watchdog's office 'shortly after' that.

A spokesperson for the Secret Service referred DailyMail.com to the inspector general's office for questions on what items, including the phones, it was given. 

'The work to investigative the travesty of the Jan 6th Insurrection is extremely important to us and aligns with the mission of the Secret Service which is to safeguard our nation's highest government leaders,' the spokesperson told DailyMail.com.