Committee investigators have made some progress in recent weeks putting together a better portrait of what Mr. Trump was doing inside the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, and who visited with him. In doing so, they have relied in part on lower-level staff members and Trump White House documents. Mr. Trump watched the protests from the West Wing on television, and according to letters released by the committee, initially refused pleas from aides to intervene to stop the crowd.
Through testimony, the committee has learned that White House aides asked one of Mr. Trump’s daughters, Ivanka, “to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill,” according to a letter the committee sent Ms. Trump last month requesting she sit for questioning.
Key Developments in the Jan. 6 Investigation
Card 1 of 3Giuliani in talks to testify. Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was Donald Trump’s lawyer, is in discussions with the House committee about responding to its questions, according to three people familiar with the matter. It is not clear how much assistance he might provide in the investigation.
White House phone records. The House committee has discovered gaps in official White House telephone logs from the day of the riot. The sparse call records complicate efforts to recreate what Mr. Trump was doing during crucial moments of the attack.
The G.O.P. resolution. The Republican National Committee officially declared the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol “legitimate political discourse,” while censuring Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating in the inquiry into the episode. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, subsequently spoke against the resolution.
The committee has also been looking more broadly at the efforts undertaken by Mr. Trump and his aides and advisers in the months after Election Day to stave off his defeat, and full access to the visitor logs could provide the committee with further information about who was in the White House during that period.
Many members of the circle of outside advisers who had Mr. Trump’s ear after Election Day spent considerable time at the White House in the days and weeks leading up to the attacks. They include figures like his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was helping lead the push to challenge the results; the conservative lawyer John Eastman, who was making a case that Vice President Mike Pence could derail congressional certification of the Electoral College results; and the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, who was pursuing baseless theories about voting fraud and manipulation of the results.