Trump's unorthodox phone habits complicate January 6 investigation

In Donald Trump's White House, telephones were a valued commodity. The then-President loved to talk to everyone, said a former White House aide. "He took everybody's calls," the aide said, even interrupting national security briefings to make and receive calls. The phone was his lifeline, according to former Trump administration officials. And the ex-President's telephone habits have become a problem for January 6 investigators. That's because the House select committee looking into the US Capitol riot has discovered an unusual gap in Trump's official White House phone log for multiple hours, according to sources familiar with the House investigation -- from after he returned to the White House from speaking to his supporters at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, until he spoke via video to the nation from the Rose Garden.

And it has got investigators looking elsewhere -- to other people's cell phones and perhaps even to Trump's own cell phones, although the committee has declined to take that uncomfortable step so far. The difficulty for the committee in tracking down just whom Trump spoke with -- and when -- is dealing with his unorthodox phone habits while in office: According to multiple sources formerly in the administration, the ex-President often used other people's telephones (or multiple phones of his own, sometimes rotated in and out of use) to communicate with his supporters -- and even family. One former staffer blamed the former President's habit on an aversion to anyone listening to his calls (which, in the White House, is hard for a president to avoid if he calls from a desk phone). So he would, frequently, grab the cell phone of a nearby aide or even a Secret Service agent to make calls. One case in point: After the Stormy Daniels story broke in 2018, Trump was on the golf course trying to reach his wife, Melania Trump, from his phone, and she did not pick up, according to a source with knowledge. So he turned to a Secret Service agent and used the agent's phone to try to reach her instead. The first lady then picked up. According to this source, the agent was not pleased his phone had been used this way. As CNN has reported, sources familiar with the investigation have not drawn any conclusions about the large gap in the phone records at this point. Trump may have decided not to make or receive calls, committee sources allow. There's also a chance that the National Archives will find more records -- on other people's phones -- to explain the gaps. Multiple sources have told CNN that former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino was a common conduit for Trump's conversations, having an office in the outer Oval "within shouting distance" of the president. One source witnessed Scavino routinely handing his phone to Trump to take calls. The source describes Scavino as the "key to pretty much everything," given how much time he spent with the then-President. An attorney for Scavino declined to comment.