Trump phoned senators to block Biden instead of calling off mob, Jan 6 hearing told

Then president knew 15 minutes after returning to White House that Captiol was under attack

Donald Trump spent his time telephoning friendly senators and urging them not to certify Joe Biden’s election victory, rather than calling off the mob storming the US Captiol, a congressional committee has been told.

The president knew within 15 minutes of returning from the Washington Mall, where he had delivered a speech urging his supporters to “fight like hell”, that crowds were swarming the building, the Jan 6 committe was told. However, there were no call logs.

The committee showed a previously unseen photo of Mr Trump inside the Oval Office with his coat on, after returning from the rally.

A White House employee told Mr Trump “as soon as he returned to the Oval” about the riot at the Capitol, said Democratic congresswoman Elaine Luria.

“Within 15 minutes of leaving the stage, President Trump knew that the Capitol was besieged and under attack,” she said.

While many were urging Mr Trump to act, he instead went to the private dining room off the Oval Office, Ms Luria said.

She said he stayed stayed there until 4pm. He did not call the police, and he did not respond to a call from the Pentagon.

“We know from the employee that the TV was turned to Fox News all afternoon,” she said.

Ms Luria said other witnesses also confirmed that Trump was in the dining room with the TV on for more than two and a half hours.

She said while there was no official record of his afternoon, they knew he spent that time calling Republican senators as he continued his attempt to block Mr Biden taking office.

One of the senators Mr Trump called was Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama.

As it was, Mr Tuberville had to tell Mr Trump he could not talk to him, as the vice president was being evacuated, as the crowds the then president would not call off, stormed the building.