It has emerged that White House phone records from 6 January 2021 obtained by the committee investigating the Capitol riot feature a 7-hour gap in former President Donald Trump’s communications, a span of time that includes the assault on the building by a horde of his supporters.
Later on Tuesday, former national security adviser John Bolton said that Mr Trump was aware that the slang term “burner phone” is used to describe an untraceable mobile phone used to evade surveillance and used the term on multiple occasions.
The news comes after the select committee voted to refer Trump aides Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro to the House of Representatives for contempt of Congress. The panel has also won access to a cache of emails withheld from its inquiry by John Eastman, the lawyer who penned an infamous memo outlining a plan for Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election in Donald Trump’s favour.
In a scathing opinion, the judge hearing the case wrote that “Dr Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history” – and that “If Dr Eastman and President Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution. If the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will repeat itself.”
