WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s Senate indictment crash crashed when Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah opposed how Democrats characterized a phone call from the president when the Capitol insurgency took place. rage.
After exchanges on the matter that seemed to confuse everyone, the Democratic House prosecution managers agreed to withdraw their words from the register and move on. They said the episode was not vital to his case, because Trump incited the crowd on Jan. 6. But his account Wednesday night was right to begin with.
Representative DAVID CICILLINE of Rhode Island, a dismissal prosecutor: “Sen. Lee describes it. He had just finished a prayer with his colleagues here in the Senate chamber and the phone rang. It was Donald Trump. And as Senator Lee explains it is that the phone call does something like that. “Hey, Tommy,” Trump asks. And Senator Lee says, “This isn’t Tommy.” And he hands the phone to Senator Tuberville. Senator Lee then confirmed that he was by his side while Senator Tuberville and President Trump spoke on the phone. And, in that call, Donald Trump asked Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification process. That’s why he called. “
LEE, asking that the remarks on the telephone call be removed from the register of proceedings: “The statements attributed to me a few moments ago by the dismissal managers of the Chamber (which) I did not make, are not accurate.” And he added: “They are not true. I never made those statements. “
THE FACTS: By his own admission, Lee made the statements that were directly attributed to him. He did not publicly characterize what was said in the phone call, but Democrats did not claim he did.
Cicilline said that according to the call, Trump “reported” that he asked Senate Republicans to delay Joe Biden’s certification as the next president. In fact, the newly published reports said exactly that, citing anonymous sources. The Associated Press has not confirmed these reports.
But there is no doubt, as the Democrat said, that Lee received a call from Trump, realized the president intended to call Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, and handed his phone to his colleague, who was nearby while Trump and Tuberville were talking. We know this because Lee himself has described this scene.
He recounted it in text messages to Bryan Schott, journalist for The Salt Lake Tribune.
“I went to see Senator Tuberville, handed him my phone, and explained that the president would like to talk to him,” he texted Lee. “I was close for the next five or ten minutes while they were talking, not wanting to lose the phone in the middle of a crisis.
“Then the Capitol police got very nervous and ordered us to evacuate the room immediately. As they forced everyone out of the room, I found myself uncomfortable interrupting the same phone conversation I had just facilitated.
“Sorry, Tommy, we have to evacuate. Can I have my phone?”
“Senator Tuberville quickly ended the call and returned my phone to its rightful owner.”
House prosecutors produced several public statements by Trump when he openly provoked the anger of his supporters over congressional action to assert Biden’s electoral victory. They said that call was not fundamental in their argument. But they said they could go back.
After the insurgents had been removed from the Capitol, lawmakers certified the victory of the Biden Electoral College. Lee did not vote to oppose the certification. Tuberville was one of six Republican senators who voted to maintain an objection to Arizona’s election votes.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: A look at the veracity of the statements of political figures.
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