White House records show an unexplained gap of more than seven hours in the record of former President Donald Trump’s telephone calls the day of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, The Washington Post and CBS reported on Tuesday.
Logs turned over to the House of Representatives panel investigating the attack showed no calls placed to or by Trump between 11:17 a.m. and 6:54 p.m. while his supporters violently rioted at the Capitol as lawmakers were set to certify Trump’s 2020 election loss, the news outlets reported.
The 11 pages of records turned over to lawmakers showed Trump talked to at least eight people by phone before the gap and 11 afterward, the Post and CBS said.
A spokesman for the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot declined comment. Representatives for Trump could not be immediately reached for comment on the report.
Extensive public reporting also cites multiple conversations Trump had on Jan. 6 with allies and lawmakers, prompting investigators to probe whether he communicated that day through unofficial back channels, the report said, citing two people familiar with the congressional investigation.
At least seven deaths have been connected to the assault on the seat of the U.S. government by thousands of Trump supporters, interrupting certification of the result of the November 2020 president election.
They marched on the Capitol after the ex-president’s fiery speech at a rally repeating his unfounded claim that his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of fraud.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy last year described talking to his fellow Republican during the rioting, saying he urged the president to call off his supporters and accept his defeat.
The House panel on Monday voted unanimously to seek “contempt of Congress” charges against Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to Trump, and Daniel Scavino, who was a Trump deputy chief of staff.
Reuters
