White House records obtained so far by January 6 committee show no record of calls to and from Trump during riot
(CNN)White House call records now in possession of congressional investigators do not reflect calls made to or from then-President Donald Trump as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, leaving them with gaps so far in their understanding of what transpired that day, three sources familiar with the House investigation into the insurrection tell CNN.
2022-02-10 20:39:12 - VI News Staff
The records the House select committee has obtained do not contain entries of phone calls between the President and lawmakers that have been widely reported in the press. Trump was known to make calls using personal cell phones, which could account for those.
Two of the sources, who have also reviewed the presidential diary from that day, say it contains scant information and no record of phone calls for several hours after Trump returned to the Oval Office after giving a speech to his supporters at the Ellipse until he emerged to address the nation in a video from the Rose Garden.
The House select committee has received hundreds of White House records since Trump lost a legal fight at the Supreme Court to keep them secret. The committee had asked the National Archives for all call logs and telephone records for Trump and top aides as well as daily presidential diaries.
A spokesperson and an attorney for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
Sources familiar with the investigation say they haven't drawn any final conclusions, suggesting the gaps in the records may be explained by the use of personal cell phones, or because Trump was simply not making or receiving many calls during the riot. There is also the possibility the Archives will find more records that can explain the gaps.
Compiled with information provided by White House staffers for the Archives, they are meant to chronicle the President's activities. Diaries from past administrations have been rife with information.
When asked about a heated phone conversation House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly had with Trump, or another phone conversation with Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah that's been previously reported, one source familiar with the investigation said: "There are a lot of things like that, that I'll say we're having to learn from them about them from a lot of different sources to piece all of the data together."
In some cases, the committee has already been able to fill in the gaps. Sources who reviewed the records say there is an entry showing Trump trying to get former Vice President Mike Pence on the phone before the Capitol siege. Pence didn't answer the call, and the committee does not have a record of Pence returning Trump's call.
But the committee has learned the pair did talk that morning from interviewing Pence's then-national security adviser Keith Kellogg, according to a letter sent to Ivanka Trump by the committee requesting her voluntary cooperation. The revelation in the request, underscoring the importance of hundreds of depositions already conducted and potentially reams of phone records that the committee has subpoenaed.
"Whether it is the absence of data or phone logs or willing testimony, inevitably, we have different sources to get that information because these are conversations that require more than one participant," committee member Rep. Stephanie Murphy said.