Jan. 6 committee aware of call between White House switchboard and rioter, member says

The House Jan. 6 committee is aware of the call between the White House switchboard and a rioter during the attack on the Capitol, panel member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. On Sunday, NBC News spoke to the press. Denver Riggleman, a former GOP lawmaker who served on the committee's staff, alleged in a clip of CBS' 60 Minutes that the switchboard was connected to the phone of a rioter on January 6, 2021.

I can't say anything specific about that particular call, but we are aware of it, said Raskin. We know of a lot of contacts between the people in the White House and different people who were involved in the coup attempt and the insurrection. The committee knows that the call is one of thousands of details that the committee is aware of, he said. Our job is to put everything into a comprehensive portrait and narrative timeline of what took place. Riggleman said that he only knows about one end of the call and not the White House end. It is still unclear what rioter he was referring to, who placed the call, and whether they were in a position of authority, or where it fits into the committee's investigation.

The committee looked into all the issues that Riggleman raised, but didn't give any further information, according to Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., another member of the panel.

The committee will hold its next hearing on Wednesday, just over a month before the midterm elections after holding their first round of public hearings this summer.

The news release did not specify its topic of focus or if there will be any in-person witnesses, but Raskin said on Meet the Press that the panel's members will share more findings that they have uncovered since the last hearing in July to round out the factual narrative. He said that we are going to fill in those details that have come to the attention of the committee over the last five or six weeks.

Raskin said the panel would release its final congressional report on President Donald Trump and his allies' effort to overturn the election before November, but said it plans to complete it during the current sitting of Congress, which turns over in January.

After committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Last week, he said last week that he expects the hearing to be the last if more information emerges, the vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. She said she anticipates more hearings after this week.

Raskin agreed Sunday: I am hopeful that we will have a hearing that lays out our legislative recommendations on how to prevent coups, insurrections, political violence and electoral sabotage in the future, because this is a clear and present danger that continues up right now.