See who got a call from the White House on the day of the US Capitol raid

At 4:34 pm on January 6, 2021, a cell phone registered to one of the hoodlums who broke into the United States Capitol received a phone call from a White House landline, according to records obtained by the United States Capitol. CNN .

The call lasted only nine seconds.

The caller remains mysterious, but its existence is remarkable, as it is the only known call made from the White House to one of the protesters during those critical hours.

According to records, the call came from (001) 202-456-1414, which is publicly available as the White House telephone number. Like many companies, calls made by the White House do not show a specific extension, but a single number.

The call was made in the late afternoon, shortly after former President Donald Trump posted a video message on social media, telling the rioters on Capitol Hill, “Go home, we love you, you are very special,” at 4:17 pm. .

It is unclear what connection there is between the White House and the troublemaker, including whether the call was made in error or whether the call went to voicemail.

The call was first made public by Denver Riggleman in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes”. Riggleman is a former Republican congressman who, last April, resigned as a technical adviser to the January 6 Commission.

THE CNN learned of the call at the beginning of the year and reveals for the first time who owns the cell phone.

The device belonged to a 26-year-old Trump supporter from Brooklyn, New York, named Anton Lunyk, who had traveled to Washington the night before January 6 with two friends, Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno, according to several sources known to the investigation. , as well as a public records search.

The three men attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in the area called the Elipse and then, along with hundreds of others, illegally entered and protested inside the Capitol. Indicted, they pleaded guilty in April and were convicted earlier this month. Lawyers for the three men declined to comment on the case to the CNN .

According to several sources familiar with the investigation, Lunyk says he doesn’t remember receiving the nine-second call and claims he doesn’t know anyone who worked in the Trump White House.

The phone call was not mentioned in Lunyk’s sentence or in any court documents. A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Washington declined to comment on the case.

So, how important is the phone call to the investigation into January 6th?

Tim Mulvey, spokesman for the January 6 Commission, told CNN that, “in his role as a member of the Investigating Committee team, Mr. Riggleman had limited knowledge of the commission’s investigation. He left the team in April, ahead of our hearings and much of our most important investigative work.”

In interview given to Jake Tapper on the “State of the Union” show CNN Representative Adam Schiff, a member of the January 6 Committee, also downplayed Riggleman’s comments to CBS and said the phone call was not a surprising fact.

“One of the things that has given our commission credibility is that we have been very careful with what we say, not to exaggerate or minimize the issues. And without the benefit of the additional information we’ve gathered since he left the commission, there’s a real risk that he might suggest things,” Schiff told Tapper.

At CNN Representative Zoe Lofgren, also a member of the commission, belittled the significance of Riggleman’s revelation.

“He doesn’t know what happened after April and everything happened in our investigation,” he opined. “Everything he was able to pass along before his departure from the commission was done and did not weaken the work or lead to a decision that suggested there was a connection between a number and an email and a person. So we keep working with everything he left and, look, I don’t know what Mr. Riggleman is doing now.”

According to a source familiar with the commission’s work, the works are continuing to investigate the phone call, but so far have not been able to find out who makes it or why.

Mulvey told CNN that, since Riggleman’s departure, “the Commission has been following all the leads and analyzing all the information that has emerged from its work. We will present additional evidence to the public at our next hearing next Wednesday (28), and a comprehensive report will be published by the end of the year.”

Lunyk, Connor and Ferrigno were accused of entering and staying on the Capitol illegally, of violently entering the Capitol, of disorderly conduct within the Capitol, and of parading, protesting or picketing inside the Capitol. Last April, the three pleaded guilty and were convicted on one count of parading, protesting or picketing inside the Capitol. On September 15, they were sentenced to a few months of house arrest, probation and small fines.

According to court documents, there are no known ties between the three men and organized groups that attacked the Capitol, such as the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Records reveal that Lunyk and Connor participated in the march. “Million MAGA” in Washington in November 2020, but there is no mention that the men are linked to anyone working in the Trump White House.

Ten minutes inside the Capitol

While the phone call remains a mystery, public records provide many details about Lunyk, Connor and Ferrigno, including dozens of Instagram private message pages.

The three men left New York on January 5, 2021 at around 11:54 pm, according to New York radar and toll booths that captured the license plates of the white Lexus registered to Lunyk.

The next day, they attended the “Stop the Steal” rally and were admitted to a “reserved area at Elipse,” according to court documents, where they watched Trump and others speak. It is not clear what prosecutors mean by “reserved area”.

At 3:08pm, a surveillance camera inside the Capitol captured Lunyk, Connor, and Ferrigno entering the Capitol through the Senate door. They broke into Senator Jeff Merkley’s office and were seen in the background of a live stream being recorded by another hoodlum, social media personality Tim Gionet. known as “Baked Alaska”.

In a video posted on social media, “Lunyk and Ferrigno are seen laughing and recording her on their cell phones in the background as Baked Alaska fakes a call to the Senate from the landline of Senator Merkley’s office,” as the documents describe. of the court.

A few minutes later, at 3:12 pm, Lunyk and his friends are seen walking through the halls of the Capitol, taking pictures in the crypt and finally climbing out a window.

Nearly an hour and a half later, phone records show the mysterious nine-second call from a White House landline. Lunyk’s white Lexus was seen back in New York at 8:28pm, so it’s likely the men were already on their way back at the time of roll call.