Trump White House phone records show 7-hour gap on Jan. 6
Trump White House daily diary and call log documents from the day of the attack on the Capitol, first reported by the Washington Post/CBS News on Tuesday, were obtained by the House Jan. 6 select committee in December through the National Archives, according to Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., a member of the committee who confirmed the details to NPR.
The documents illustrate more of what was originally reported in the press in February about gaps that existed in Trump's call log on Jan. 6, 2021. The revelation of the diary and call log themselves are new and shed new detail, specifically a gap in the call log of more than seven hours.
"There's a lot that we know and more that we are finding out each and every step of the way. So those what were publicly reported about the diaries and the call log are things that were produced during the Archives production, I believe in December," Aguilar told NPR. "And so we've been mindful of this, and we've been asking individuals in interviews about that — about those gaps in time."
He later added, "We're aware of these, and they're important parts of what we're looking at."
The documents reported by Washington Post/CBS reflect a call Trump had with then-Georgia GOP Sen. David Perdue at 11:06 a.m., with the next call listed at 6:54 p.m. through the White House switchboard to get Trump aide Dan Scavino on the phone.
Some details of phone calls from that day listed in the log, and some of those missing from the log, have also been previously reported.
For example, a call between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and a call between Trump and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville during the afternoon while the Capitol was under threat from the pro-Trump mob were revealed in the days and weeks after Jan. 6, but they are not reflected in the log.
The log shows a call to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at 9:16am. McConnell's spokesperson tells NPR the leader "declined the call" and he last spoke to Trump on Dec. 15, 2020, the day after the Electoral College met in state capitals to cast ballots confirming President Biden's victory.
Members of the January 6 committee have publicly stated for months that there is a gap about the details about what Trump was doing and who he was talking to before, during and after the insurrection. Their investigation has focused on talking to witnesses who can fill in that gap. [Copyright 2022 NPR]
