A Brooklyn man who was among the many mob of President Donald Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was on the receiving finish of a mysterious nine-second telephone name from the White Home switchboard because the mayhem unfolded, CNN reported Monday.
Anton Lunyk, 26, who was nabbed by the feds after a witness acknowledged him in a New York Publish tweet, acquired the decision at 4:34 p.m., shortly after Trump posted a video on Twitter encouraging his supporters to “go residence” and including, “we love you, you’re very particular.”
It’s unclear who on the White Home positioned the decision to Lunyk, whether or not it was made in error, or whether or not it was answered or went on to voicemail.
It was the one name that got here from the White Home to one of many rioters throughout that point interval, in response to CNN.
Efforts to contact Lunyk by The Publish have been unsuccessful.
The existence of the decision was revealed by former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia, who had been a technical adviser for the Home choose committee investigating the riot, throughout an interview on CBS Information’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night time.
“You get an actual ‘Aha’ second while you see that the White Home switchboard had related to a rioter’s telephone whereas it’s taking place,” mentioned Riggleman, who ended his work for the committee in April. “That’s an enormous, fairly large ‘Aha’ second.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the Home Intelligence Committee chair and a member of the choose panel, downplayed the decision disclosure after being requested about Riggleman’s feedback earlier Sunday.
“I can say that every of the problems that Mr. Riggleman raised through the interval he was with the committee, which ended fairly a while in the past, we appeared into,” Schiff informed CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And one of many issues I believe that has given our committee credibility is, we now have been very cautious about what we are saying, to not overstate issues, to not understate issues.”
Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the panel, informed “60 Minutes” in a press release that Riggleman had a “restricted data of the committee’s investigation” and had left earlier than the panel carried out its “most essential investigative work.” The spokesman added that the committee had “run down all of the leads that arose from his [Riggleman’s] work.”
Lunyk traveled from New York to Washington the night time earlier than the Jan. 6 “Cease the Steal” rally with Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno.
The trio attended Trump’s speech on the Ellipse close to the White Home after which moved on to the Capitol with hundreds of different supporters, the place they entered the constructing in an effort to disrupt Congress’ certification of the 2020 election.
Lunyk was fingered by a witness who acknowledged him in a tweet by The Publish, which reported on a livestream of the Capitol assault by Tim Gionet, a white nationalist often called “Baked Alaska.”
Lunyk was arrested in Could of final yr, whereas Connor and Ferrigno have been collared that August.
“Witness 1 supplied a web-based tip to the FBI concerning the riot on the U.S. Capitol. On January 18, 2021, regulation enforcement interviewed Witness 1. Witness 1 suggested that he/she attended faculty with ANTON LUNYK and he/she acknowledged LUNYK within the background of a New York Publish Twitter picture (proven beneath in Picture 1),” an FBI agent mentioned in a court docket doc filed after Lunyk’s arrest.
“The person recognized by Witness 1, LUNYK, is the person in Picture 1 carrying what seems to be a pink hat, grey hood, vest, lengthy sleeve shirt, and a shawl, and holding what seems to be a cellular phone in his hand,” the agent mentioned.
Within the weeks after the 2020 election, Lunyk, Connor and Ferrigno exchanged quite a few messages on social media in regards to the forty fifth president’s defeat.
“Biden can’t get inaugurated bro it simply can not occur,” Lunyk wrote on Dec. 8, 2020, in response to court docket paperwork.
On Jan. 5, 2021, Lunyk despatched a message to a gaggle chat on Instagram: “That is historical past within the making.”
4 days later, Lunyk wrote in one other group chat after Baked Alaska’s screenshot appeared in The Publish: “We’re formally in some critical s—.”
“CUS I WAS IN DC 50 FEET FROM THE DON … AND I WAS IN THE CAPITOL … PEACEFULLY,” Lunyk wrote, in response to court docket paperwork.
The three additionally exchanged violent threats in opposition to former Vice President Mike Pence, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I’d’ve mentioned ‘Our job yesterday wasn’t accomplished. Our finish objective was to brutally homicide Pence and Pelosi, and sadly immediately they’re nonetheless respiration, due to this fact we should come again stronger and fiercely subsequent time round,’” Connor wrote to Ferrigno, Lunyk and others on Jan. 8, 2021.
“We raped AOC,” Connor texted the identical day.
“In the event that they take my cash I’m gonna shoot Pelosi,” Lunyk mentioned on Jan. 12, 2021.
The trio every pleaded responsible in April of this yr to a single cost of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol constructing and have been scolded by federal Decide Rudolph Contreras at their sentencing Sept. 15.
“The three of you simply come throughout as actual knuckleheads … all in your 20s, all reside at residence, none of you’re advancing your schooling,” Contreras mentioned, including that “you all may use a robust dose of maturity.”
Lunyk was sentenced to at least one yr’s probation, together with two months of residence confinement, and ordered to pay a $742 tremendous and $500 in extra restitution — in addition to carry out 60 hours of group service.
Connor and Ferrigno have been additionally sentenced to a yr’s probation. Connor was ordered to residence confinement for 3 months, whereas Ferrigno acquired two months. Each have been additionally made to pay a $371 tremendous, $500 restitution, and carry out 60 hours of group service.
