Topline
Former President Donald Trump in an interview with the Washington Post published Thursday denied erasing White House call logs the day his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol after reports showed hours-long gaps in the records and shifted blame to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) as he continued to deny his role in the January 6 riots.
Trump speaks during a campaign rally.
Getty Images
Key Facts
In the 45-minute interview at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump denied making changes to White House call logs or using burner phones on January 6, saying he didn’t recall “getting very many” phone calls the day of the insurrection.
Trump also continued to deny his role in the capitol siege, shifting blame to Pelosi and the mayor of D.C. who he claimed were “in charge” of the building, the Post reported.
Trump bragged about the size of the crowd who came to the January 6 rally as he continued to push false allegations of election fraud.
He also said he had no regrets about calling on his supporters to come to the capital in a tweet saying it would “be wild,” according to the Post.
Trump told the Post during his time as president he had held conversations with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who came under fire recently for text messages she sent to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows pressuring him to pursue efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Crucial Quote
“Why would I care about who called me? If congressmen were calling me, what difference did it make? There was nothing secretive about it. There was no secret,” Trump told the Post in response to questions about January 6 call logs.
Chief Critic
A spokesman for Pelosi told the Post regardless of Trump’s “desperate lies,” Pelosi was “no more in charge of the security of the U.S. Capitol that day than Mitch McConnell.”
Tangent
Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “savvy negotiator,” though he said the Russian leader “overplayed his hand” by choosing to invade Ukraine, the Post reported. He told the outlet he had not been in contact with Putin since he left the White House.
Key Background
Trump’s remarks come a week after the Post reported that White House call logs on January 6 showed a gap of seven hours and 37 minutes between Trump’s calls, including the period of time his supporters were attacking the Capitol. The House January 6 Committee is investigating if there was a “possible coverup” of the records, a source told the Post at the time. The committee over the past two weeks has heard from Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, both of whom reportedly testified before the panel for several hours. Trump told the Post Ivanka’s long questioning was a “shame and harassment,” adding that he did not know what she or Kushner said to the committee. He said he had yet to be contacted by the panel and was unsure of his response if the panel reaches out, saying it “depends on what the request is.” Trump has continued to push false allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election since leaving office, claiming to the Post this week that new discoveries from Georgia would come to light next week. Trump has also lambasted other GOP politicians for refusing to endorse the false fraud claims, telling the Post this week that “some” are more into the claims than others, but “the ones who are into it, they are really into it.”
Further Reading
Trump deflects blame for Jan. 6 silence, says he wanted to march to Capitol (Washington Post)
Trump’s White House Call Logs Show 7-Hour Gap On January 6—House Committee Reportedly Looking Into Possible Cover-Up (Forbes)
Jan. 6 White House logs given to House show 7-hour gap in Trump calls (Washington Post)Report the details…
