The impeachment proceedings against former President Donald J. Trump mainly focused on his actions that led to the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th.
But that day there was a crucial lapse of nearly five hours – between the end of Mr. Trump’s speech on the Ellipse urging his followers to march to the Capitol, and a final tweet urging his followers to to forever remember the day – that remains critical of his state of mind.
During the trial, there was evidence of what Mr Trump did during those hours from about 1:00 p.m. to about 6:00 p.m., including new details about two phone calls to lawmakers that prosecutors said they clearly pointed to the mayhem on Capitol Hill would have drawn attention.
One was a call from the White House to Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, at 2:26 pm, according to call logs the Senator provided during the impeachment process.
The president made the call, but he was actually looking for Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican from Alabama. Mr Lee passed the phone on to Mr Tuberville, who told reporters that he had informed Mr Trump that Vice President Mike Pence was being escorted as the mob approached the Senate Chamber.
“I said, ‘Mr. President, you just took out the Vice President, I have to go,” Mr. Tuberville told Politico.
House prosecutors used the information on the appeal to argue that Mr Trump was fully aware that the Vice President was in danger and that he was adamantly disregarding Mr Pence’s safety. On Friday, Mr. Trump’s defense team had insisted that Mr. Trump was not aware of any danger Mr. Pence was facing.
The other call was between Rep Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader of the House, and President Trump, who was getting heated according to a Republican Congressman, Rep Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington State.
In a statement on Friday night, admitted as evidence in the trial on Saturday, Ms. Herrera Beutler reported that Mr. McCarthy had a screaming match with Mr. Trump during the call.
Mr. McCarthy had told Mr. Trump that his own office window had been broken into. “Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump said, according to a CNN report that the Congresswoman confirmed.
“Who do you think you are talking to?” Mr. McCarthy shot back at one point, CNN reported, including an expletive.
