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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I asked a Trump Administration official what to make of the dramatic moves at the Pentagon. He said: “It’s just Trump guys getting revenge on people they don’t like and padding their resumes. It doesn’t mean anything on policy front.”
But I also spoke w/a former Trump Admin official who says this indicates National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien is trying to keep his options open for the future: “There are some people inside the White House who really believe that Trump's going to pull this off.“
“The person who really wanted Mark Esper out because he coveted Mark's job is Robert O'Brien,” the former official said. “O'Brien wants someone to keep the seat warm so he could get the job [in a second Trump term]. Christopher Miller is his guy, so now he can reach in.”
Scott Reed, the senior political strategist at the US Chamber of Commerce, confirms @maggieNYT reporting that he has resigned, due to the “leftward movement and constant Trump bashing of the Chamber.”
Reed says the Chamber’s Tom Donohue and Suzanne Clark blocked him from spending money on Senate GOP races: “They would not let me spend Senate money down the home stretch,” he said.
Reed says the campaign funds at issue would have been “enough to hold the Senate GOP,” but he was not allowed to spend it. A US Chamber spokesman says it will have a statement out shortly on this.
Huge investigation here - and a rare look at FinCen suspicious activity reports that track illicit money flows around the world: FinCEN Files Show Criminals Moved Billions As Banks Watched buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Statement on this from the Bank Policy Institute now: “It does not make sense that the basis for media allegations that banks knowingly hid illegal activity consisted solely of Suspicious Activity Reports that those banks filed alerting law enforcement to that very activity.“
2. “Clearly, there is more to this story, but unfortunately the reporting failed to unearth it, and the banks are legally prohibited from telling their side.“
Just spoke to a senior administration official about the state of play on Oracle/Tik Tok right now. SAO said: No former CFIUS committee meetings yet, but Steven Mnuchin is holed up on the phones trying to work this out with his team. “No final decisions have been made.”
SAO: There is still “a chance” for an Oracle/Tik Tok deal by Monday.
But SAO also said: “WeChat is dead in the United States.”
As news breaks on Tik Tok and We Chat this morning, note the different date for Tik Tok. According to the Commerce release, the fullest ban on TiknTok doesn’t come until Nov. 12 - after the election. This would allow Trump to avoid a massive backlash from users before voting.
As of September 20, 2020, for WeChat and as of November 12, 2020, for TikTok, the following transactions are prohibited:
Any provision of internet hosting services enabling the functioning or optimization of the mobile application in the U.S.
Any provision of content delivery network services enabling functioning or optimization of the mobile application in U.S.;
Any provision directly contracted or arranged internet transit or peering services enabling the function or optimization of the mobile application w/in US