Big Question: Who Called Rioter From the White House on January 6th?

Savas Abadsidis September 23, 2022

Sunday’s upcoming episode of 60 Minutes features a bombshell interview with former senior technical adviser for the January 6 Committee, Denver Riggleman, who says the White House switchboard connected a phone call to a Capitol rioter on January 6, 2021.

“You get a real ‘a-ha’ moment when you see that the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter’s phone while it’s happening,” Riggleman told 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker. “That’s a big, pretty big ‘a-ha’ moment.”

Riggleman, an ex-military intelligence officer and former Republican congressman from Virginia, oversaw a data-driven operation for the January 6 committee, pursuing phone records and other digital clues tied to the attack on the Capitol. He stopped working for the committee in April.

“I only know one end of that call,” Riggleman said. “I don’t know the White House end, which I believe is more important. But the thing is the American people need to know that there are link connections that need to be explored more.”

Specific White House phone numbers are kept secret to protect every administration. In a soon-to-be-released book, Riggleman writes he had begged the January 6 Committee to push harder to identify the numbers.

Riggleman: “From my perspective…being in counterterrorism. If the White House, even if it’s a short call, and it’s a connected call, who is actually making that phone call?”

Whitaker: “Is there a simple, innocent explanation for that?”