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A Capitol rioter who received phone call from the White House on Jan. 6 was identified as a 26-year-old Trump-loving New Yorker who joked about shooting Nancy Pelosi
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2022-09-27 at 10:57 PM UTChttps://www.businessinsider.com/jan-6-rioter-got-call-from-white-house-identified-cnn-2022-9
Lunyk, of Brooklyn, New York, was initially charged with five counts related to his role in the riot, including violent entry, disorderly and disruptive conduct, and entering or remaining in a restricted building. But in April, he pleaded guilty to just one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced to 12 months of probation, 60 hours of community service, and a restitution fine in September.
Prosecutors said Lunyk traveled to Washington, DC, the evening before the riot with two of his friends, Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno. The three men first attended the "Stop the Steal" rally before joining the mob of Trump supporters in walking to the US Capitol, where the crowd laid siege to the building.
Photos of Lunyk inside the Capitol show him wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat, and videos from the scene captured Lunyk and his friends laughing and recording on their cellphones while in the building, according to court documents.
A sentencing memorandum revealed that Lunyk and his friends made violent jokes about Democratic lawmakers in the days after the November 2020 election, alleging that the presidency had been "stolen."
"If they take my money I'm gonna shoot Pelosi," Lunyk said in a message to Connor, Ferrigno, and others on January 12, 2021.
The trio spent approximately 10 minutes inside the Capitol before exiting through a window, prosecutors said. They had been out of the building for nearly an hour and a half when Lunyk's phone rang, according to CNN, and photographic evidence suggests the friends were already on their way back to New York when the call came through.
There is no mention of the phone call in any court records related to Lunyk's case, and an attorney for him did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. -
2022-09-27 at 10:58 PM UTC
