Phone logs show Trump tried to reach Josh Hawley six times a day before the Capitol riot

Former President Donald Trump attempted to call Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley six times and had a White House operator leave three messages on the day before the January 6 Capitol riot, The Springfield News-Leader reported today.

“The string of missed calls on Jan. 5 show that Trump sought to speak to Missouri's then-junior Republican senator as he called other key allies and lawmakers to consolidate support ahead of the certification process, which he sought to stop in light of baseless claims of mass voter fraud,” the newspaper reported.

But perhaps as noteworthy as the call log itself was Hawley’s apparent failure to return one of those calls on that day to the president of the United States after six of them had been placed. Here’s the News-Leader’s account of that:

“Trump first attempted to call Hawley at 9:37 a.m. on Jan. 5, according to the call logs, and called twice more at 10:04 and 10:11 a.m. The White House switchboard operator left a message with Hawley around 10:18 a.m.

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‘The former president attempted to reach Hawley again that night, calling at 9:21, 10:51 and 10:57 p.m. The White House operator left another two messages for Hawley around 9:46 p.m. and 11:13 p.m., according to the call logs.

“Hawley has said he returned Trump's call on the morning of Jan. 6 but could not reach him. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the phone logs for Jan. 5.”

Hawley repeatedly achieved national notoriety in connection with Trump’s insurrection. On December 30, 2020 – seven days before the January 6 election certification -- Hawley became the first Senator to agree to pair up with a Republican House member to challenge the 2020 election results.

Hawley would go on to garner massive attention twice for his actions on January 6: First for his iconic clenched-fist support of the Trump mob; and then for his compelling impersonation of a chipmunk scurrying for safety from those he had urged on.