7.7 “I Guess They’re Just More Upset About the Election Theft Than You Are”
7.7 “I Guess They’re Just More Upset About the Election Theft Than You Are”
¶Minutes after drawing increased attention to his besieged Vice President, the President called newly elected Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama at 2:26 p.m.179 Lauren Fox and Clare Foran, “GOP Sen. Mike Lee Hands Over Phone Records to House Impeachment Managers,” CNN, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/politics/mike-lee-phone-records-impeachment-trial/index.html. He misdialed, calling Senator Mike Lee of Utah instead, but one passed the phone to the other in short order.180 Mike Lillis, “Tuberville Defends Account of Trump Call During Capitol Riot,” The Hill, (Feb. 12, 2021), available at https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/538704-tuberville-defends-account-of-trump-call-during-capitol-riot/. Sen. Tuberville stated publicly that the originating number was identified as “White House” on Sen. Lee’s phone, suggesting that the call came through the White House Switchboard. Id.
598¶President Trump wanted to talk objections to the electoral count. But Senator Tuberville—along with every other elected official trapped and surrounded in the building—had other things on his mind.181 Jonathan Karl, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, (New York: Dutton, 2021), at p. 287.
¶“I said, ‘Mr. President, they’ve taken the Vice President out. They want me to get off the phone, I gotta go,’” Senator Tuberville told reporters.182 Jonathan Karl, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, (New York: Dutton, 2021), at p. 287. “‘[W]e’re not doing much work here right now.’”183 Eddie Burkhalter, “Tuberville Says He Attended Jan. 5 Fundraiser at Trump’s Washington Hotel,” Alabama Political Reporter, (Feb. 19, 2021), available at https://www.alreporter.com/2021/02/19/tuberville-says-he-attended-jan-5-fundraiser-at-trumps-washington-hotel/.
¶In the next half hour, between 2:26 p.m. and 3:06 p.m., President Trump spoke with House Leader Kevin McCarthy.184 The call likely happened after the evacuation of the House chamber starting at approximately 2:38 p.m., and Rep. McCarthy spoke about it to CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell by phone between approximately 3:00 to 3:15 p.m. CBS News, “House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: I Completely Condemn the Violence in the Capitol,” YouTube, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpBbpqO5qgU. Molly Michael testified that she recalls receiving the incoming call from Leader McCarthy on Dan Scavino’s landline and transferring it to a landline in the dining room. She does not recall when the call took place, nor did she hear anything about what was discussed. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Molly Michael, (Mar. 24, 2022), pp. 131–32.
¶Leader McCarthy told the public in a live interview with CBS News, while he and his colleagues were sheltering at a secure location,185 “House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: ‘I Completely Condemn the Violence in the Capitol,’” CBS News, (Jan. 6, 2021), available at https://www.cbsnews.com/video/house-minority-leader-kevin-mccarthy-condemn-the-violence/#x. that he was “very clear” in telling President Trump “to talk to the nation to tell them to stop this.”186 “House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: ‘I Completely Condemn the Violence in the Capitol,’” CBS News, (Jan. 6, 2021), available at https://www.cbsnews.com/video/house-minority-leader-kevin-mccarthy-condemn-the-violence/#x.
¶Leader McCarthy later recounted his conversation to a number of people, including Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican congresswoman from Washington State.187 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/. “You have got to get on TV, you’ve got to get on Twitter, you’ve got to call these people off,” he said he told the President.188 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/.
¶“[These] aren’t my people, you know, these are—these are Antifa,” President Trump insisted, against all evidence.189 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/. “They’re your people. They literally just came through my office windows, and my staff are running for cover. I mean, they’re running for their lives. You need to call them off,” Leader McCarthy told him.190 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/.
¶What President Trump said next was “chilling,” in Representative Herrera Beutler’s words.191 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/.
¶“Well, Kevin, I guess they’re just more upset about the election theft than you are,” the President said.192 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/.
¶The call then devolved into a swearing match.193 Tommy Christopher, “WATCH: GOP Rep Reveals Details of Trump’s Bombshell Call with McCarthy Refusing to Call off Capitol Rioters,” Mediaite, (Feb. 13, 2021), available at https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-gop-rep-reveals-details-of-trumps-bombshell-call-with-mccarthy-refusing-to-call-off-capitol-rioters/.
¶Mick Mulvaney, former Chief of Staff to President Trump, had a similar call with Leader McCarthy in the days after the attack. McCarthy told Mulvaney that he urged the President to get the rioters to stop, and the President replied, “Kevin, maybe these people are just more angry about this than you are.”194 Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney, (July 28, 2022), p. 43.
¶Marc Short, the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, spoke with Leader McCarthy later that afternoon.195 Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), p. 46. Leader McCarthy told Short that he had spoken with President Trump and that he was “frustrat[ed]” that the White House was “not taking the circumstance as seriously as they should at that moment.”196 Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), p. 46. The administration was demonstrating a “lack of response or lack of responsibility,” Leader McCarthy told Short.197 Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Marc Short, (Jan. 26, 2022), p. 47.
¶At 2:49 p.m.—as the violence escalated—President Trump’s speechwriter Gabriel Robert texted someone: “Potus im sure is loving this.”198 Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Ross Worthington Production), RW_0002307 (Jan. 6, 2021, Gabriel Roberts text message at 2:49 p.m.).
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