Former President Trump used a Secret Service agent’s phone to call then-first lady Melania Trump after she didn’t answer calls from his number as the Stormy Daniels story broke in 2018, according to a CNN report.
A source told the news outlet that Trump was on a golf course when the story broke in 2018 and that his wife didn’t answer a number of calls from his cellphone. He then asked to use the agent’s phone to successfully reach her.
It was alleged that Trump’s then-attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money before the 2016 presidential election to not share details of her sexual encounter with Trump.
According to CNN, Trump’s move to use the Secret Service agent’s phone was not out of the ordinary as Trump did not like making phone calls where he thought he could be heard or monitored.
According to multiple sources in the Trump administration, Trump often used other people’s telephones, as well as multiple phones of his own, to communicate with his family and some supporters, CNN added.
Trump did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
John Kelly, while serving as Trump’s chief of staff in July 2017, tried to clean up the White House phone process and screen Trump’s calls, but the former president hated the move, a former White House official told CNN.
Several sources informed the network that former White House deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino was among Trump’s main communication links. The network reported one source witnessing Scavino hand his phone to Trump to take calls. A lawyer for Scavino did not provide a comment to CNN.
This report comes as investigators from the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol have found gaps in the White House phone records on the day of the Capitol riot, The New York Times reported.
Investigators were unable to find the logs of calls by Trump during hours on Jan. 6 when they know he was sometimes on the phone.
The panel has not found “that any official records were tampered with or deleted,” the Times added and said that Trump often used his personal phone or those of aides for calls.
Last month, the House select committee on Jan. 6 subpoenaed and obtained the phone records associated with Trump‘s son Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Trump adviser and fiancée to Donald Trump Jr.