Page:CTRL0000034609 - Transcribed Interview of Kashyap Pramod Patel, (December 9, 2021).pdf/54

54 but I'm not sure.

Can you describe the first time? Do you remember what time period that would've been, the first time you—did you reach out to him, or did he reach out to you?

I don't remember. We had a line of communication that was open through cables in WHSR for lots of activity, so I don't—my best guess is that he reached out or I reached out right around the time we saw a crowd gathering around the House. I think that would be the timing.

And what was the substance of that conversation?

I believe the Acting Secretary or someone had said, "Let's make sure we're in touch with the White House." And that was the sum and substance of it. And I probably, in my role, said, "Let me call Chief Meadows."

And I said, "Hello. Are you aware that this is going on? Please let us know if there's any information you'd like passed on to the Secretary and the Chairman." I believe that's what I would've done.

Was that from your personal cell phone to Mark Meadows, or was that from—

We have a—so the whole Office of the Secretary of Defense is a giant SCIF, a secure compartmented information facility. And, in my office, fortunately, we had a system in place where you could directly call through DOD—what we call DOD cables—the White House Situation Room and/or to the chief of staff's office so that we could communicate directly.

So I'm guessing—my practice was to use that system. And, since it was a SCIF, there was no phone—cell phones allowed in the SCIF, personal cell phones of any kind in the SCIF.

So you said there was up to three calls. So that first call was when you said