Bolton pushes back on Trump, says he was familiar with burner phones

Former national security adviser John Bolton said on CNN Thursday that former President Trump is lying about his knowledge of burner phones after recent reports of a gap in the White House phone records during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. 

Earlier this week, documents obtained by The Washington Post and CBS News showed the White House phone logs have a gap of more than seven hours during the Capitol insurrection. 

The gap occurs between 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m., spanning the timeframe of the riot and contradicting previous reports that Trump made multiple calls during that time period. 

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, said in an interview the committee is considering if Trump may have used a disposable phone that can’t be tracked, borrowed an aide’s phone or other possibilities. 

“I have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never even heard the term,” Trump said in a statement to the outlets. 

Bolton, however, says he has heard the former president use that term before during his time in the administration.

“I can’t understand what the former president is saying because I heard him use the term ‘burner phone’ a number of times,” Bolton said. “It’s hardly like it’s some obscure, highly classified set of words.”

“I heard him mention it, so you’ll have to guess what the reason for his statement is,” he added.

The phone records were given to the House Jan. 6 committee by the National Archives earlier this year. 

During the recorded time gap, Trump reportedly had calls with Republicans including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Sen. Mike Lee (Utah).