On Jan. 6, 2021, during an apparent seven-hour gap in White House call logs that the House select committee investigating the attack is now trying to piece together, then-President Trump's executive assistant, Molly Michael, was absent for most of the day, three sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.
Why it matters: Though sources said the Trump White House's already spotty record-keeping operation had virtually collapsed by the final weeks of his presidency, Michael's absence is a previously unreported detail that may play a role in explaining the incomplete records for a key stretch of time.
- Her absence — coupled with the already shambolic state of record-keeping in the Outer Oval — also could complicate efforts to piece those details back together 14 months after that fateful day.
What we're hearing: Keeping handwritten notes on Trump's unscheduled meetings and calls was part of Michael's duties when she took over as executive assistant from her predecessor, Madeleine Westerhout.
- While Trump was in the Oval Office, the dining room adjoining it or the White House residence, he preferred to use the landlines — though also used his personal cell or received calls on the cells of his close aides, according to sources who witnessed this.
- He would frequently yell out, "Molly!," to get her to call whoever he wanted to talk to on a whim.
But Michael, who sat just outside the Oval Office, was out of the morning of Jan. 6 for personal reasons....
- She arrived at the White House in the late afternoon that day, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
- In her absence,