White House call logs that were handed over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack show an over seven-hour gap in former President Donald Trump‘s call records.
The seven-hour gap spans important hours of the day, from 11:17 a.m. ET to 6:54 p.m., including the time when the Capitol was invaded a little after 2 p.m. The gap also contradicts previously known phone calls Trump made during the Capitol breech to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) via Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California).
A Trump spokesperson said that Trump had no control over White House records and assumed that all his calls were being recorded.
“I have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never even heard the term,” Trump said in a statement Monday in response to reports that Trump may have had a burner phone or used aides’ private phones. January 6 committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) previously noted that the use of private cell phones during Trump’s administration was not uncommon.
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) brought up a possible violation of the Presidential Records Act which requires all important forms of communications, records, etc., that the President touches to be preserved and sent to the National Archives.
The calls that do show up on the logs include a couple of calls with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon who supported claims of election fraud on his podcast. He had also said on his podcast the day prior that “all hell is going to break loose.” Trump also had conversations with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Sen. David Perdue (R-Georiga), Fox News commentator Sean Hannity and various aides and advisers.
