A seven-hour gap in the White House phone logs for Jan. 6, 2021 is impeding the U.S. House of Representatives’ investigation into the insurrection at Capitol that fateful day, according to frustrated House Democrats who accuse Donald Trump of criminal intent.

They argue the gap is an intentional cover-up of Trump’s attempt to persuade then-vice president Mike Pence, chairing the joint session of Congress certifying the 2020 electoral college victory of Democratic nominee Joe Biden, to block it and declare Republican Trump the winner.

Other Republican members of Congress have admitted they spoke to Trump or received phone calls from him on that day at times coinciding with the seven-hour gap in the White House logs. That has led many to speculate that Trump was using disposable “burner” phones for these contacts in order to hide them from the public record. Rolling Stone magazine reported that the organizers of the Jan. 6 protest events used burner phones to communicate among themselves and with Trump family members and administration officials.

Pence declined to do Trump’s bidding at the joint session, noting correctly that he had no constitutional power to do so, and Biden accordingly was confirmed as the next president after rioters interrupted proceedings. The day before the riot, Steve Bannon, Trump’s one-time chief strategist who was still informally advising the president, had said on his podcast that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow” if Trump was not declared the winner.

This week, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter, in ruling on a case involving a lawyer involved in Trump’s January 6 scheme, opined, “Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”

In their book on the incident titled “Peril,” co-authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of The Washington Post quoted Trump as having told Pence: “Mike, you can do this. I’m counting on you to do it. If you don’t do it, I picked the wrong man (as his running mate) four years ago. … You’re going to wimp out!”

Pence later offered a letter in which averred he had no power as vice president of “unilateral authority to decide presidential contests.” He said he would “keep the oath” he had made to obey the Constitution instructing him to honor the decision of the Electoral College.

Woodward and Costa also confirmed that Trump knew he had been beaten. He and aides decided to tape a video in which Trump said: “This was as a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these (opposing) people.” To his supporters at the Capitol, he said: “We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special,”

Yet Trump kept up his lament of the “stolen” election. After National Guard troops finally contained the riot, he tweeted: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.” He finally concluded: “Go home with love & peace. Remember this day forever!”

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah read from the Constitution the specific words instructing adherence to the Electoral College count, concluding: “Our job is to open and then count. That’s it. That’s all there is.”

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the staunchest of Trump supporters, persisted from the Senate floor: “Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president, but today, first thing you’ll see. All I can say is a count me out. Enough is enough. … Mike, Mr. Vice President, just hang in there.”

On Thursday, January 7, 2021, Pence announced that Biden had been certified as the winner. Yet Trump persists in trying to reverse the memory and history of what happened. It is a sad commentary on his legacy as a mistake by the American electorate and a all-around and national disgrace.

— Jules Witcover has covered American politics, and the Democratic Party, for more than half a century.