CNN Reports Nothing ‘Mysterious’ About White House Call Logs After All: ‘Typical Phone Habits’

One of the biggest stories of the week was the news, first reported by The Washington Post and CBS, that there is a “seven-hour gap” in the White House call logs from January 6, 2021.

The story exploded across the internet and cable news and escalated in implication and conclusion, with suggestions that the logs were tampered with or erased, and extensive discussion about then-president Donald Trump using burner phones, perhaps to conceal his involvement in the riot and invasion of the Capitol building.

Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks wrote at NBC Think that the gap could be “much worse” than Richard Nixon‘s tape erasures.

Wine-Banks said the comparison was “immediately obvious” to her, and that, while there isn’t yet “enough evidence to say for sure” that Trump erased phone records, “the missing chunk certainly appears deliberate.”

However, in a tweet and article about it on Thursday, CNN’s Jamie Gangel threw some cold water on the “alter” or “erase” theories.

Gangel wrote that the six pages of White House switchboard logs for that day “are complete” and “there are no missing pages.” The linked article offered a “less mysterious explanation” and explained that the log “reflects Trump’s typical phone habits.”

“The six pages of White House switchboard logs for January 6, 2021, are complete based on an official review of White House records, according to a source familiar with the matter,” CNN reported. “There are no missing pages and the seven-hour gap is likely explained by use of White House landlines, White House cell phones and personal cell phones that do not go through the switchboard.”

He mainly placed calls through the switchboard when he was in the residence but rarely used it when he was in the Oval Office. The fact the log does not show calls on January 6, 2021, from the Oval Office is not unusual, said the sources, because Trump typically had staff either place calls directly for him on landlines or cell phones. Those calls would not be noted on the switchboard log.

In a subsequent tweet, Gangel explained that the fact that the records were not tampered with has no bearing on what Trump may or may not have said to anyone by any other method, only that the call logs had not been altered or tampered.

That is a big “only” though, considering the theories that were spreading like wildfire throughout the week.

In a separate article from CNN, Gangel, along with Ryan Nobles and several other colleagues, reported that just prior to January 6, “White House officials started providing fewer details about then-President Donald Trump’s calls and visits.”

One source described how White House record-keepers appeared to be “iced out” in the days leading up to January 6.

“The last day that normal information was sent was the 4th,” said another source familiar with the investigation. “So, starting the 5th, the diarist didn’t receive the annotated calls and notes. This was a dramatic departure. That is all out of the ordinary.”

The White House diarist normally receives many streams of information, including the phone logs from the switchboard, the president’s movements from the US Secret Service and, critically, the notes from Oval Office operations, which detail calls, guests and activities.

But sources close to the panel’s investigation do not seem to know yet who, if anyone, directed a change in record-keeping or what the motivation behind that change was, raising questions about whether the lack of information was intentional or for staffing issues.

They further report that the January 6 committee is already aware of calls that took place that were not recorded in the diary and would not have appeared in the switchboard logs.

Despite these facts, outlets and pundits continue to refer to “missing” call logs or suggest that they’ve been tampered with or deleted, including notably The Nation and, as mentioned, NBC Think, both of which published after the CNN explainer.

There was nothing unusual or mysterious about the call logs, and they weren’t tampered with, erased, or altered — though you wouldn’t know it from the hype. Altering the records would indeed be a tremendously big deal. But they weren’t altered, and the gap isn’t unusual.

What we know about that not unusual gap during which the president’s calls were not going through the switchboard, in addition to the fact that it was his normal habit, is that the calls made in other ways may or may not currently be cataloged or listed in other White House notes or documents.

It would likewise be overreach to say that this exonerates Trump’s communications that day, as some have suggested. It can only be said that the calls that didn’t go through the switchboard aren’t necessarily known. And with regard to burner phones the jury is still out.