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Salon
Salon
Politics
Bob Brigham

Intel on White House call to rioter

The White House (Getty Images)

The bombshell "60 Minutes" report that the White House switchboard connected a call to a Jan. 6 rioter during the attack on the Capitol should be easy to track down, according to a former top Trump administration official.

The report, set to air in full on Sunday, features former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). The former National Security Agency contractor served as a staffer for the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"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."

The former congressman said, "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?"

Olivia Troye, a national security expert who worked at the Department of Homeland Security and for Vice President Mike Pence, offered her thoughts on Twitter.

"Infuriating that the lives of our country's leadership were at risk on Jan 6...law enforcement officers were fighting for their lives and meanwhile, someone inside the Trump White House was apparently directly communicating with the rioters while it was happening," Troye wrote.

She also explained how she would investigate further.

"They should look up the record of all the extensions in the White House and what desk it belonged to — it would at least lead to narrowing down where in the [White House] the call was placed from…then one could review the camera footage for that area and bingo!" Troye wrote. "That's where I would start."

Watch below:

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