The Trump White House reportedly called the phone of a Capitol Hill rioter on the day of the siege in a mysterious nine-second call that was made shortly after the former president posted on Twitter to tell his supporters to "go home."
The call was made using a White House landline and was directed to the phone of one of the rioters, identified as Anton Lunyk, a Trump supporter. The allegations were made in a new book from a former staff member of the House Jan. 6 committee.
Mysterious Phone Call
The book was written by Denver Riggleman, who was also a Republican member of the House from Virginia. While he did not name the man whose phone was called by the White House, he later revealed during an interview on Monday that it belonged to 26-year-old Lunyk of Brooklyn, who was later charged with breaching the Capitol and sentenced to a year of probation.
On Sunday night, Riggleman referred to the incident as an "aha moment" but later said that he was not willing to call it a "smoking gun" showing a connection between rioters and the Trump White House, as per the New York Times.
Riggleman said that he understood Lunyk had denied knowing about a call from the White House that afternoon. However, the official said that the rioter not knowing about the call was inconsequential, what was important was that the data validates that the call happened.
He previously described the unreported call in his new book titled: "The Breach," where he repeatedly highlighted connections between the Trump White House and Capitol Hill rioters. Riggleman pointed to communications that the committee obtained showing former chief of staff Mark Meadows exchanged text messages with Phil Waldron, a retired army colonel.
According to the New York Daily News, federal prosecutors allege that Lunyk came to Washington D.C., for the chaos with his friends, Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno. The MAGA trio were revealed to have exchanged messages about their plans.
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Capitol Riot Investigation
The individuals reportedly talked about former Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In an Instagram message, Connor told Ferrigno and Lunyk that their end goal was to "brutally murder" Pence and Pelosi.
He said, "And sadly, today they're still breathing, therefore we must come back stronger and fiercely next time around." Authorities did not mention the call from the White House during the sentencing for Lunyk and his two friends, who received sentences of home confinement and small fines along with a tongue-lashing from a federal judge.
Federal Judge Rudy Contreras told the three men that they just came across as real knuckleheads. She also said that the suspects could all use a strong dose of maturity to realize the wrong that they did.
While the phone call to Lunyk remains a mystery, with officials not knowing who initiated the call, records showed that it came from 202-456-1414. It is the publicly available number for the White House and like many businesses, outgoing calls do not show a specific extension, CNN reported.
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