A list of calls Lee gave managers showed a call received prominently from a Washington, DC, area code at 2:26 pm Eastern Time on January 6. That placed the call two minutes after Trump sent a tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence on the day of the attack on the United States Capitol.
Trump first called Lee’s personal cell phone shortly after 2 pm Eastern time. At that time, senators had been evacuated from the Senate floor and were in a temporary waiting room when a pro-Trump crowd began to invade the Capitol.
Managers of the House’s impeachment referred to the call, as they argued that Trump did not take sufficient measures to cancel the crowd while the attack was going on and sought to provide information on the former president’s state of mind at the time.
Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, one of the managers, returned to the Senate floor on Saturday afternoon.
“There was some confusion over the phone call that I mentioned to Senator Lee, so I want to make clear some facts that are not in dispute,” said Cicilline. “First, Senator Lee confirmed that the call took place at 2:26 pm, so I added that to the schedule above. Remember, through this call, the vice president has just been evacuated live on television for his own safety and Donald Trump had , after that, tweeted an attack on him, which the insurgents read on a bull horn. And a few minutes after Donald Trump’s tweet, he didn’t reach out to check on the vice president’s safety, he called a senator to ask on postponing certification. “
A Trump tweet at 2:24 pm Eastern time on the day of the attack read: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should be done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a set of facts , not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones that were asked to certify in advance. The US demands the truth! “