Investigators looking into President Trump’s conduct up to and on Jan. 6th will likely be able to get access to his phone records, I’m told, because the president rarely places calls himself.
One aide rarely saw him dial a phone on his own - in the Oval, he would press a button for an assistant, and in the residence press a button for White House operators. The operator calls are logged and an auto generated email is sent to a list controlled by the chief of staff.
Those records will likely be available to the incoming Biden team on Jan. 20.
But the Oval Office calls may not always be logged - and if they were it is by the assistant herself. For those, investigators might have to subpoena phone company records, unless the assistant cooperates.
Bottom line: there will likely be quite a bit of evidence available to determine who Trump talking to and when.
Says one former aide: “It’s possible he knew [of plans for the Capitol attack] and the people telling him were partially insulating him. He rarely goes as far as to actively insulate himself, at least to the standard his lawyers would be comfortable with.”
I asked one former senior administration official if there is a need for an investigation of what Rudy Giuliani and President Trump knew in advance of the plans to attack the Capitol and the official said: “Sadly, yes.”
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