Donald Trump fought tooth and nail to keep from having to turn over documents to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, including seeking an injunction from the Supreme Court. (As a reminder, only Clarence Thomas sided with Trump on that decision, which I’m sure was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with his wife’s dedication to extreme right-wing conspiracy theory-driven “activism.”)
Trump has been forced to hand over hundreds of documents, including the official White House diary and phone logs from January 6. We knew that those records had gaps in the logs (in addition to some of the documents having been ripped up and taped back together) but new reports from journalists Robert Costa and Bob Woodward detail just how troubling those gaps are.
According to the joint report from the Washington Post and CBS News, there is a gap in the phone logs of more than seven hours—457 minutes to be exact. That includes the 187 minutes during the Capitol attack when Trump ignored pleas from his staff, allies, and Republican lawmakers to tell his followers to stand down.
The idea that Trump made or received zero calls during that time is impossible. He’s been known to use his personal cell phone for things (and this was back when he was still on Twitter) but the House committee is reportedly investigating whether he might also have communicated through “backchannels, phones of aides or personal disposable phones,” according to this new report.
The committee is also reportedly investigating whether the documents they received are the full logs. In essence, they’re investigating a “possible coverup” of the official White House record from that day, as one lawmaker on the panel told Costa and Woodward.
News of the seven-hour gap in the records got Richard Nixon’s name trending online Tuesday, as the gap in Trump’s call logs is reminiscent of—only about 25 1/2 times worse than—the infamous 18 1/2 gap in Nixon’s Watergate tapes that was such a scandal at the time (thanks also to Bob Woodward’s co-reporting!).
Congratulations to Trump, I guess, for being so much worse than the most corrupt comparison available from recent history, while also having successfully desensitized the public and media to the point of not being able to really care.
(via: The Washington Post, image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
