Trump White House phone records show 7-hour gap on Jan. 6
By Claudia Grisales,
Published March 29, 2022 at 3:46 PM EDT
Samuel Corum
The U.S. Capitol is seen across the National Mall as supporters of President Donald Trump begin to gather for a rally on January 6, 2021. Some of those supporters later attacked the Capitol. New records show a seven-hour gap in Trump's phone call record around the time of the siege.
Trump White House daily diary and call log documents from the day of the attack on the Capitol, first reported by The Washington Post and 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 the press originally reported in February about gaps that exist in Trump's call log from 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, you know, what was 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 The Washington Post and CBS reflect a call that Trump had with then-Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., 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 that day's phone calls 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 Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., 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 then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at 9:16 a.m. McConnell's spokesperson told NPR that McConnell "declined the call" and he had last spoken to Trump on Dec. 15, 2020, the day after the Electoral College met in state capitals to cast ballots confirming Joe Biden's presidential victory.
Members of the Jan. 6 committee have publicly stated for months that a gap exists in the details about what Trump was doing and whom he was talking to before, during and after the insurrection. Their investigation has focused on talking to witnesses who can fill in that gap.
Claudia Grisales
Claudia Grisales is a congressional reporter assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.
See stories by Claudia Grisales