As riot raged at Capitol, Trump tried to call senators to overturn election

A spokesman for Lee said the calls from Trump and his lawyer had been sent to Sen. Tommy tuberville, the newly elected republican from Alabama.

The White House’s attempt to force Tuberville to postpone the confirmation vote offers a glimpse into the president’s thinking and priorities as a crowd of his supporters besieged the iconic building. While chief executive Tuberville tried to convince to delay the process, he and other senior White House officials did little to keep an eye on Vice President Mike Pence while he and his family on Capitol Hill were in crisis, a source close to CNN vice president told.

Trump first called Lee, a Republican from Utah, on his personal cell phone shortly after 2pm. IT. At that time, the senators were evacuated from the Senate floor and found themselves in an improvised room, while a crowd of Trump supporters began to make their way to the Capitol.

Lee answered the phone, Trump introduced himself and it was clear he was looking for Tuberville and had the wrong number. Lee, who had the president on the line, went to find his colleague and gave his phone to Tuberville to tell him that the president was on the line and that he was trying to reach him.

Fault! The file name is not specified.

According to a source familiar with the call, Tuberville spoke to Trump for less than 10 minutes, and the president tried to persuade him to raise further objections to the Electoral College vote in a vain attempt to block confirmation of the victory of President-elect Joe Biden in Congress. The conversation was interrupted because the senators were asked to take cover.

CNN has contacted the Tuberville office for comments.

Lee’s second call came in at 7:00. And by Giuliani. Lee didn’t take the call, so it went to voicemail. Lee’s office confirmed to CNN that the voice message was meant for Tuberville, and the message left by Giuliani was very similar to the message left by another unnamed GOP senator. A transcript of this call was published by The Dispatch, a conservative newspaper, and a blank news blog.

Senator Tuberville? Or should I say, Coach Taberville. That’s Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, he said, according to the transcript.

I appeal to you because I want to discuss with you how they are trying to speed up this hearing and the need for you, our Republican friends, to try to slow down so that we can get these lawmakers to get more information for you, Giuliani said, referring to the unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud in the presidential election.

I know they’re meeting again at 8:00, but it’s… The only strategy we can follow is to resist the many states and ask questions to get us going tomorrow – ideally by the end of the day.

Tuberville was unaware that Giuliani had tried to contact him until this was revealed, according to the source.

Trump and Giuliani probably saw someone in Tuberville who could help their cause on Wednesday because he was part of a group of six GOP senators who voted to support a protest against Arizona’s failed 93-6 vote.

CNN reported Wednesday that even after Congress resumed the night after the riots, Trumps continued to urge the senators to support a protest against Biden’s certification as president, according to a source familiar with the talks.

This story was updated on Friday with extra events.

Manu Raju and Jim Acosta of CNN contributed to this report.

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