'I Have No Idea What A Burner Phone Is'
'I Have No Idea What A Burner Phone Is'
Trump has to answer for gap of 7 hours and 37 minutes in White House phone logs
Donald Trump has fresh questions to answer about his activity as president on the day of the deadly January 6, 2021, insurrection, now that it's come to light that there's a gap of more than 7 hours in the White House phone logs for that day.
It's a burgeoning scandal reminiscent of the gap found on the recordings made of President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office. The existence of that recording gap is what ultimately helped bring down Nixon as a result of the White House cover-up in the Watergate scandal.
The matter of the phone logs — and the gap therein — is pertinent to what Trump may have been saying, or not saying, as thousands of his violent supporters were rioting at the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the lawful and legitimate election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.
The “gap in President Donald Trump’s phone logs of seven hours and 37 minutes, including the period when the [Capitol] was being violently assaulted” makes the infamous 18-minute gap in Nixon’s tapes look like nothing in comparison, said famed legal expert and scholar Laurence Tribe.
“Seven hours is the new 18 minutes. White House records turned over to House show 7-hour gap in Trump phone log on Jan. 6,” tweeted former Republican strategist and prominent “Never Trumper,” Rick Wilson.
Specifically, the question has arisen whether Trump was using so-called “burner phones” to communicate during the insurrection, particularly to circumvent his calls being logged in at the White House.
A “burner phone” is a pay-as-you-go cellphone that is used to maintain privacy, and is often used for illegal transactions.
“Trump phone logs have a 7 hour 37 minute gap on Jan 6. Probably because he was busy attempting a coup,” tweeted journalist and podcaster Scott Dworkin.
Added Atlantic columnist and former White House speechwriter David Frum, “When Trump knows he's up to no good, he borrows other people's phones. And that's what he did for nearly 8 hours on January 6, 2021.”
Although Trump tried to disavow the use of burner phones by claiming ignorance, that's not holding up under scrutiny.
Trump said in a statement Tuesday, “I have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never even heard the term.”
Yet in a lawsuit against his niece, Mary Trump and the New York Times, he used the term “burner phone” at least three times.
Further, Washington Post reporter Robert Costa reported that former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said in an interview Tuesday, after the CBS-Post reporting was published, that he recalls Trump using the term “burner phones” in several discussions and that Trump was aware of its meaning.
Former FBI special agent, and attorney, Asha Rangappa, has a solution.
“We know the people who received calls or talked to Trump during the gap: Mike Lee, Jim Jordan, Mike Pence, etc. Get their records, identify the incoming number, and then you’ve got the phone(s) Trump was using,” she tweeted.
Do you find this post of value?
Please consider supporting our work by joining our Patreon for as little as $5…