Is former US President Donald Trump trying to hide compromising evidence of his involvement in the attack on the Capitol and the coup attempt carried out on January 6, 2021 in Washington? This is the question that arises after the discovery this week of the existence of a “hole” of seven hours and 37 minutes in the official telephone log of the office of the American presidency that day, precisely at the time where supporters of the populist ex-president stormed the dome of democracy. A void that is reminiscent of the 18 and a half minutes of conversation between the President of the United States Richard Nixon and his chief of staff erased from the magnetic tapes of the White House in 1972, the day after the Watergate.
We remember: this attempt to spy on the Democratic National Committee, orchestrated by the current president, then the attempts to obstruct the investigation into these events led to the dismissal of Richard Nixon and above all motivated his resignation in 1974. A few months earlier, in the midst of the controversy, Nixon had assured Americans, in a famous speech delivered from Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Florida, that he was “not a crook.”
“Obviously, Trump, like Nixon, has something damning to hide, summarizes in an interview with the Homework American political historian Sean Wilentz of Princeton University. Nixon was about his involvement in the cover-up of Watergate and related crimes. Trump, it is undoubtedly on his contribution to the insurrection which gave rise to his attempted coup. »
According to washington post and CBS, the House of Commons investigative committee tasked with shedding light on the Capitol attack, received from the National Archives, the agency responsible for keeping official presidential records, White House telephone records from the January 6 who remain strangely silent for 457 minutes of this riotous day.
The absence of data is revealed there between 11:17 a.m. and 6:54 p.m., the period during which the former American president launched his supporters on Capitol Hill to prevent the certification by the legislative power of the vote confirming the victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race. Inflated by the populist’s spurious allegations of voter fraud in the months leading up to the election and in the aftermath of the election, the insurgents believed they could thus keep Donald Trump in power. They now face criminal charges, several of which have resulted in convictions. This “hole” in the call registers contrasts with the behavior of Donald Trump, known for his frenetic report on the telephone, and who in the morning and evening of January 6 made several telephone calls recorded in the register.
What’s more, in recent months, a series of January 6 reports have confirmed the existence of calls made by Donald Trump in the midst of the riot, including one mistakenly made to Senator Mike Lee of Utah. — as Trump sought to speak to Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama — and another passed to House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
On Wednesday, an investigation by the British daily The Guardian even revealed that the call Lee received was indeed from the White House and should normally be on the log. Which is not the case.
Camouflage and fragile defense
These inconsistencies could lead to believe in a “possible attempt at concealment”, indicated to the washington post a member of the commission of inquiry, by erasing data or by the use during the day of prepaid telephones by the former president. These phones can be used in a unique way and then destroyed by people trying to avoid tracing the origin of their calls. A scheme widely exploited by criminals.
Regarding this hypothesis, Donald Trump indicated in a press release this week that he did not know of the existence of this type of telephone and “never heard of it”. A statement that is a lie, according to Donald Trump’s former security adviser, John Bolton, who assured airs on CNN Thursday that Trump had repeatedly talked about this type of phone in his presence.
“We knew that Donald Trump regularly tried to hide his telephone contacts, says Sean Wilentz. These revelations indicate more than ever that he conducted his presidency in the same way that a mafia boss runs a criminal organization, doing everything he can not to leave incriminating traces. »
Clearly, Trump, like Nixon, has something damning to hide. Nixon, it was on his involvement in the cover-up of Watergate and related crimes, Trump, it was arguably on his contribution to the insurgency that gave rise to his attempted coup.
Last year, Donald Trump repeatedly invoked “executive privilege” over the release of presidential information to prevent the National Archives from turning over documents related to his presidency to the commission. ‘investigation. An argument rejected by the courts.
In February, the same Archives also discovered 15 boxes containing classified documents in the former president’s private residence in Florida, a seizure of confidential information from the White House and on which the department Justice and the FBI were called in to investigate.
Lawsuits in sight
These new revelations about a possible attempt to obstruct the ongoing investigation into January 6 risk tightening the grip on the ex-president. “It helps establish his mindset before, during, and after January 6 and could be crucial in convincing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to finally bring charges against the ex-president,” says Sean Willentz.
On Monday, a California judge put pressure on Mr. Garland by finding “it is more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the session of Congress on January 6, 2021” , and this, in a judgment relating to a related case, namely the refusal of an allied lawyer of Mr. Trump, John Eastman, to transmit to the commission of inquiry a hundred e-mails.
Mr. Wilentz believes that public hearings will also be necessary “to establish, using sworn testimony, what exactly Trump did on January 6th”, and especially to whom he spoke. “These public hearings could elicit testimonies that shed light, including on his possible use of cellphones,” he says.
In the summer of 1973, it was the public hearings of the Ervin Commission, charged with investigating the Watergate scandal, which uncovered the existence of exhaustive recordings of every meeting and every conversation Richard Nixon had at the White House. “The missing part on one of the tapes was not revealed until much later,” adds the academic. But it took public hearings to get things moving. This week, the Congressional Jan. 6 Committee got a little closer to the ex-president with the closed-door hearing of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He presented himself voluntarily before elected officials. Ivanka Trump’s husband is Donald Trump’s top adviser and the first member of the Republican’s family to answer questions from this commission in this way.
After more than a year of existence, the commission is slowly moving towards its conclusion, with public hearings expected to be held in the coming weeks.