- GOP Senator Tommy Tuberville has said again that he told Trump when Pence was evacuated during the Capitol riot.
- GOP Senator Bill Cassidy asked about Trump’s timeline and tweet attacking Pence during the trial.
- Trump’s lawyer dismissed Tuberville’s story as “ rumors. ”
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Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville reiterated his claim on Friday that he had notified President Donald Trump of the evacuation of Vice President Mike Pence from the Senate during the siege of the Capitol. Trump’s team had questioned the claim in their defense.
“I said, Mr. President, they got the Vice President out. They want me on the line, I have to go,” Tuberville said, according to CNN and others. accountsTuberville also said he was “probably the only man in the world” to hang the president.
The phone call and timeline came under scrutiny during Trump’s impeachment process as senators question whether Trump knew Pence was in danger from the violent crowd when he tweeted attacking the vice president.
Read more: Meet the little-known power player with the ‘hardest course’ on Capitol Hill. She shapes Trump’s impeachment process and Joe Biden’s agenda.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution,” Trump tweeted at 2:24 pm on Jan. 6 as a crowd of his supporters approached the Senate Chamber. Pence was evacuated at 2:13 PM local time.
Tuberville first revealed on Wednesday evening that he had notified Trump of Pence’s evacuation. According to multiple reports, the president had called the Alabama senator to encourage him to protest the election certification.
Trump had actually called Senator Mike Lee, who passed his cell phone over to Tuberville. Lee’s office said Friday he received Trump’s call at 2:26 p.m., or two minutes after Trump’s tweet, the Washington Post reported
Louisiana GOP Senator Bill Cassidy specifically asked Trump’s lawyers and impeachment managers about the tweet during the interrogation portion of Friday’s trial.
“The tweet and the lack of response suggest President Trump didn’t care that Vice President Pence was in danger or that law enforcement was overwhelmed,” Cassidy said. “Does this show that President Trump tolerated the harassment of Vice President Pence?”
Trump’s attorney Michael van der Veen disputed the facts of the timeline presented by Cassidy, calling Tuberville’s allegation “ rumors. ”
After the exchange, reporters asked Tuberville about the phone call, prompting him to repeat his version of the events.
Some lawmakers were also unhappy with the response from Trump’s lawyers.
Senator Elizabeth Warren told reporters she felt the answer was inadequate and the question was important, but “ Donald Trump’s lawyers were just trying to distract again, look another way, and divert attention from the underlying question about what the evidence showed that Donald Trump knew and when he did. “
Independent Senator Angus King also told reporters that he thought the question was important and that the response from Trump’s lawyers was insufficient.