Name Logs Underscore Trump’s Efforts to Sway Lawmakers on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — As a part of his frenzied try and cling to energy, President Donald J. Trump reached out repeatedly to members of Congress on Jan. 6 each earlier than and through the siege of the Capitol, in accordance with White Home name logs and proof gathered by the Home committee investigating the assault.

The logs, reported earlier by The Washington Publish and CBS and authenticated by The New York Occasions, indicated that Mr. Trump had known as Republican members of Congress, together with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Consultant Jim Jordan of Ohio, as he sought to strain Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes from a number of states.

However the logs even have a big hole with no document of calls by Mr. Trump from important hours when investigators know that he was making them. The decision logs had been amongst paperwork turned over by the Nationwide Archives to the Home committee inspecting the Jan. 6 assault final yr on the Capitol.

The New York Occasions reported final month that the committee had found gaps in official White House telephone logs from the day of the riot. The Washington Publish and CBS reported Tuesday {that a} hole within the cellphone logs amounted to seven hours and 37 minutes, together with the interval when the constructing was being assaulted.

Investigators haven’t uncovered proof that any of the decision logs had been tampered with or deleted. It’s well-known that Mr. Trump routinely used his personal cellphone, and people of his aides, to speak with different aides, congressional allies and outdoors confidants, bypassing the traditional channels of presidential communication and probably explaining why the calls weren’t logged.

The logs seem to have captured calls that had been routed by way of the White Home switchboard. Three former officers who labored below Mr. Trump mentioned that he principally used the switchboard operator for outgoing calls when he was within the residence. He would sometimes use it from the Oval Workplace, the previous officers mentioned, however extra usually he would make calls by way of the assistants sitting exterior the workplace, in addition to from his cellphone or an aide’s cellphone. The assistants had been supposed to maintain data of the calls, however officers mentioned the record-keeping was not thorough.

Folks making an attempt to succeed in Mr. Trump typically known as the cellphone of Dan Scavino Jr., the previous deputy chief of workers and omnipresent aide, one of many former officers mentioned. (The Home committee investigating the assault really useful Monday night that Mr. Scavino be charged with legal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a subpoena from the panel.)

However the name logs however present how personally concerned Mr. Trump was in his last-ditch try to remain in workplace.

One of many calls made by Mr. Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 — at 9:16 a.m. — was to Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate’s high Republican, who refused to go together with Mr. Trump’s strain marketing campaign. Mr. Trump checked with the White Home switchboard operator at 10:40 a.m. to verify a message had been left for Mr. McConnell.

Mr. McConnell declined to return the president’s calls, he informed reporters on Tuesday.

“The final time I spoke to the president was the day after the Electoral School declared President Biden the winner,” Mr. McConnell mentioned. “I publicly congratulated President Biden on his victory and obtained a cellphone name after that from President Trump and that’s the final time we’ve spoke.”

The logs additionally present Mr. Trump reached out on the morning of Jan. 6 to Mr. Jordan, who had been amongst these members of Congress organizing objections to Mr. Biden’s election on the House floor.

The logs present Mr. Trump and Mr. Jordan spoke from 9:24 a.m. to 9:34 a.m. Mr. Jordan has acknowledged speaking with Mr. Trump on Jan. 6, although he has mentioned he can not keep in mind what number of instances they spoke that day or when the calls occurred.

Mr. Trump known as Mr. Hawley at 9:39 a.m., and Mr. Hawley returned his cellphone name. A spokesman for Mr. Hawley mentioned Tuesday that the 2 males didn’t join and didn’t converse till March. Mr. Hawley had been the primary senator to announce he would object to President Biden’s victory, and continued his objections even after rioters stormed the constructing and different senators backed off the plan.

The logs additionally present that Mr. Trump spoke from 11:04 a.m. to 11:06 a.m. with former Senator David Perdue, Republican of Georgia, who had not too long ago misplaced his re-election marketing campaign to Senator Jon Ossoff.

A spokesman for Senator Invoice Hagerty, Republican of Tennessee, confirmed he had known as Mr. Trump on Jan. 6 however mentioned they didn’t join. Mr. Hagerty declined to remark.

Regardless of the shortage of name data from the White Home, the committee has realized that Mr. Trump spoke on the cellphone with different Republican lawmakers on the morning of Jan. 6.

As an illustration, Mr. Trump mistakenly known as the cellphone of Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, pondering it was the variety of Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama. Mr. Lee then handed the cellphone to Mr. Tuberville, who mentioned he had spoken to Mr. Trump for lower than 10 minutes as rioters had been breaking into the constructing.

The president additionally fielded a name from Consultant Kevin McCarthy of California, the highest Home Republican, who informed Mr. Trump that individuals had been breaking into his workplace on Capitol Hill.

Throughout that decision, Mr. Trump was mentioned to have sided with the rioters, telling the highest Home Republicans that members of the mob who had stormed the Capitol had been “more upset about the election than you are.”

Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s private lawyer, was additionally calling lawmakers that day and continued to take action even after rioters laid siege to the constructing. In a night cellphone name, he made clear that the trouble to struggle the results of the election was nonetheless alive even after the riot.

“Senator Tuberville, or I ought to say Coach Tuberville, that is Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer,” Mr. Giuliani mentioned in a voice mail message meant for Mr. Tuberville, however mistakenly left on Mr. Lee’s cellphone. “I’m calling you as a result of I wish to talk about with you ways they’re making an attempt to hurry this listening to and the way we’d like you, our Republican buddies, to attempt to simply gradual it down.”

The information of the decision logs got here the identical day that the White Home mentioned President Biden wouldn’t prolong government privilege to cowl any testimony to the committee by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, who labored as his advisers.

“The president has spoken to the truth that Jan. 6 was one of many darkest days in our nation’s historical past, and that we should have a full accounting of what occurred to make sure that it by no means happens once more,” mentioned Kate Bedingfield, a White Home spokeswoman. “And he’s been fairly clear that they posed a novel menace to our democracy and that the constitutional protections of government privilege shouldn’t be used to defend, from Congress or the general public, details about an assault on the Structure itself.”

Mr. Kushner is scheduled to testify before the committee this week, whereas Ms. Trump has been negotiating the terms of her potential cooperation.

Michael D. Shear contributed reporting.