Jan. 6 House committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said he is “very curious” about why there is reportedly a gap in former President Trump’s White House phone records as rioters were attacking the Capitol more than a year ago.
The Washington Post and CBS News obtained documents the committee received from the National Archives that show Trump’s calls were not recorded from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I’m very curious about these sudden and very long gaps in the record of phone calls,” Raskin told host Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily.” “You know, one possibility when a gap like this exists is that the president or whomever we’re looking at is using a different phone.”
“That could be a different office phone number. Then we have it could be a burner phone, for we all know. There’s the possibility that somebody is deliberately suppressing the release of these materials. We just don’t know and that’s something we want to look to,” he added.
Trump said in a statement to the Post and CBS News that he has “no idea what a burner phone is” and his spokesperson stated Trump believed all his logs would be recorded for the day and the former president had no control over what was recorded.
Raskin scoffed at Trump’s claim, saying that “one can use a burner phone without understanding that’s what they’re commonly called.”
“This shouldn’t be a game of hide-and-go-seek. It’s not cat and mouse. The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized when it comes to congressional investigations, if Congress comes calling for information that it needs for us to do our jobs, then you turn it over.”