Decoding what "Found Text Messages" means. [40 Dirty Cops] Because at the level these two were operating, "The System" had every single text, top to bottom. Many eyes already knew what was in them. So the release of these new text messages now means that they can "legally" be acknowledged. There are really only 3 options; The messages were available on the device with minimal forensic tools but nobody had "gone to the trouble" to find the evidence hiding in plain sight until now.  The messages were recovered previously but the fact was hidden so as to lay a trap. [I'll expand at the end] The messages were recovered previously and successfully "compartmentalized" in the manner they abuse the secret laws to hide evidence. I believe it is number 2. There isn't much you can do to recover data from a device you have access to which isn't trivial. In other words, if it was stored in some kind of flash memory and the phone had even a basic wipe protocol, nothing would have taken this long to recover. Even if the files were encrypted in the chat/messaging program, it wouldn't have taken this long with an honest effort. So what that leaves is the messages were recovered now because it was the first time someone really looked for them. Edit: This isn't the iPhones that Mueller's team wiped. This is more messages recovered from the S5's.