Raskin Confirms: Jan. 6 Committee Is ‘Aware of’ Call from White House to Rioter During Insurrection

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Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) confirmed a bombshell claim by Denver Riggleman, a former Republican member of Congress, who said the panel knew the White House switchboard placed a call to a Capitol rioter’s phone while the insurrection was ongoing.

While interviewing Raskin on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, host Chuck Todd referenced an upcoming 60 Minutes episode featuring an interview with Riggleman where the former representative said that “the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter’s phone while it’s [the Jan. 6 riot] happening.”

“That’s a pretty big a-ha moment,” Riggleman added. He went on to say that he knows which rioter the White House contacted, although he was not aware of who at the White House placed the call. Riggleman has authored a book that promises a “behind-the-scenes” look at the committee’s work. It is scheduled to publish on Tuesday.

“That’s one of thousands of details that obviously the committee is aware of,” Raskin told Todd of the call. “And our job is to put everything into a comprehensive portrait and narrative timeline of what took place. And so, you know, to me, it’s interesting, but much less interesting than the fact that Donald Trump told the crowd in public, ‘You’ve got to fight like hell. And if you don’t, you’re not going to have a country anymore.'”

Raskin is referring to remarks Trump made during the “Stop the Steal” rally that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol. Trump and his allies have frequently tried to separate the rally from the insurrection that occurred immediately after, but Rolling Stone’s reporting has repeatedly debunked these claims.

Todd next asked Raskin, “Apparently, it says the call came from inside the White House. I mean, how hard have you guys tried to track down who that person was? Do you have an idea of who it was?”

“You know, I can’t say anything specific about that particular call, but we are aware of it,” Raskin answered. “And we are aware of lots of contacts between the people in the White House and different people that were involved obviously in the coup attempt and the insurrection. And that’s really what all of our hearings have been about. You know, we’ve had more than 20 hours, explaining that this was an organized, coordinated attempt to subvert the electoral process and to substitute the will of a minority for the will of the majority that was expressed, where Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by more than seven million votes and 306-232 in the Electoral College.”

Raskin also confirmed that the committee has “an agreement in place” to interview Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Ginni Thomas was involved with efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and even reportedly contacted as many as 29 Arizona Republican legislators to convince them to reject Joe Biden’s electors in the state. Via email, she encouraged representatives to “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure” and claimed they had the “power to fight back against fraud.”

The committee is now preparing for its next hearing, taking place on Wednesday. “What we’re going to do in Wednesday is fill in those details that have come to the attention of the committee over the last five or six weeks,” he said. Raskin added that the panel plans to complete its report “before the end of this Congress.”