Capitol rioter who received call from White House on Jan 6 is identified
It’s unclear whether the nine-second phone call was made by mistake and it’s not known who in the White House placed the call
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The recipient of an outgoing phone call made from the White House switchboard to January 6 rioter was a New York man who spent approximately 10 minutes inside the Capitol that day.
According to CNN, the nine-minute call was placed to a mobile phone belonging to Anton Lunyk, a 26-year-old supporter of former president Donald Trump who travelled to Washington from Brooklyn, New York, and attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse which immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol.
In April, Lunyk was sentenced on charges that he’d entered and illegally demonstrated inside the Capitol, which had been filed based on video surveillance showing him and two friends — Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno — crossing into the building through a door in the Senate wing.
Lunyk and his friends were later seen in the background of streaming video posted by Anthime Glonet, a notorious racist troll and Trump supporter known online as Baked Alaska, in the Capitol “hideaway” office of Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Surveillance footage showed Lunyk, Connor and Ferrigno leaving the Capitol through an open window at approximately 3.12 pm that day.
The brief call from the White House switchboard to his mobile phone — which was not mentioned in any documents related to the case against Lunyk — came in approximately 90 minutes later while the three men were on their way back to New York by car.
It is not known who in the White House placed the call, or if the call was intentional or placed to Lunyk’s phone by mistake.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments