According to one person, the gap runs from just after 11 a.m. up to 7 p.m. Jan. 6, 2021 and includes White House phone calls. They spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly about the ongoing investigation.
The committee is looking into the gaps in the official White House log. This log includes the switchboard as well as a daily record detailing the president’s activities. However, the panel does not know what Trump did during that period.
The House panel made extensive requests for cell phone records. It has spoken to over 800 witnesses, many of whom were aides who spent the day working with Trump. The committee also has thousands more texts from Mark Meadows’ cell phone, which was Trump’s chief staffer at the time.
The effort of the committee to reconstruct Trump’s day when his supporters broke into Capitol highlights the problem that Trump’s habitual avoidance records laws presents — not just to historians of his turbulent four years, but also to the House panel which intends capture the entire story of Trump’s attempt to reverse the election results in reports and hearings later this year.
The committee has placed a special focus on the actions of the president in the White House. Hundreds of his supporters beat the police and broke into the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win. These missing records raise questions about whether Trump deliberately obstructed official channels in order to avoid records.
Trump was well-known for using other people’s phones to make calls. According to an ex-aide, Trump often placed calls directly without calling the White House switchboard. It is not uncommon for presidential calls to be routed through others.
It is not clear whether records of cell phone calls made on that day have been obtained by the committee. In August, the panel issued a broad records preservation request to nearly three dozen telecommunications companies and social media companies. It demanded that companies preserve communications for several hundred people to avoid Congress issuing subpoenas. Trump’s family members and many of his Republican friends in Congress were included in the request.
Additionally, the committee continues to receive records from National Archives and other sources. This could provide additional information that can help create a complete picture of President Obama’s communications.
Although hundreds of people have been cooperative with the probe, some cases have seen the panel being impeded by Trump’s executive privilege claims over interviews and material. Although Trump’s attempts to block certain documents were blocked by courts, many witnesses still close to him — including several who were present at the White House on that day — declined to answer questions from the committee.
Biden, who is the current president and has jurisdiction over the White House privilege claims of his predecessor, stated Tuesday that he would reject Trump’s claims regarding the testimony of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Kushner was one of Trump’s top White House aides and is scheduled to interview the panel on Thursday. The panel has also requested that Ivanka Trump be interviewed, but she has yet to say if she will.
On Jan. 6, Trump addressed an enormous crowd at the Ellipse and repeated falsehoods about the election defeat. He told them to walk to Capitol and make their voices heard. Then he returned to the White House to watch as the mob entered Capitol. Over 700 people were arrested in the violence.
Many of Trump’s calls from that day are now public. According to someone familiar with the conversation, he spoke with Vice President Mike Pence between 11 and 11.30 a.m., because he had been lobbying Pence privately and publicly to object to the certification. As his congressional allies were about to challenge the official count, he also spoke with several GOP senators and members of the House.
According to Republican Rep., he had a heated conversation with Kevin McCarthy, House Republican leader, and asked him to end the mob. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington state resident, shared McCarthy’s account shortly following the insurrection. Herrera Beutler said that Trump replied that the rioters were “more upset than you are about the election”.
Trump also spoke to Jim Jordan, an Ohio representative, and Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama senator. Tuberville claims that he spoke with Trump while the Senate was being evacuated. Utah Senator Mike Lee claimed that Trump accidentally called him while he was trying reach Tuberville.
Trump did make calls before this time, but the White House log does not show them. He was getting ready to speak at that rally. According to one person familiar with the records, the log includes calls with Steve Bannon’s former aide, conservative commentator William Bennett, and Sean Hannity from Fox News.
The AP previously reported the gap in phone records. CBS News and The Washington Post first reported the exact time span of the gap jointly.
Trump did not immediately comment on Tuesday. However, he previously discredit the investigation and sued for records production.