All posts tagged "denver riggleman"

'Bring it': Jan. 6 committee Republican threatens to tell all if Trump prosecutes him

A former Republican lawmaker who has been thought by some to be a target of Donald Trump has two words for the president elect: "Bring it."

Former "Tea Party" Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman (VA), a Trump-skeptic Republican who helped assist the House Select Committee on January 6 with its investigation, has previously sounded the alarm about purportedly dangerous Republicans rising to power.

On Saturday, he appeared on MSNBC, where he was asked about Trump telling NBC News that Jan. 6 committee members should go to jail.

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"Are you worried about political retribution for your role on the committee?" the host asked.

"I would be stupid to say if I wasn't worried about it or have some concern... I say bring it. I don't want a pardon. I don't want anything like that. I would rather be in the fight. I would love to have that opportunity to sit in front of individuals at the House, wearing my congressional pin, and talking about what I saw the day of January 6. It would be a lot of fun for the entire American public," Riggleman said. "I think there are some people who have a right to be concerned about the type of retribution you see here, especially if you have Kash Patel leading the FBI. This is an individual who is seriously underqualified and also is pretty much a January 6 QAnon guy."

He added, "That is the issue we have right now. There are people who I think might get a conditional pardon but as for people like me, the senior technical advisor and the person who looked at all the data, it might get to me but there are other people who should be more worried."

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‘Fight of crazy against crazy’: Wounded Rep. Bob Good confronts ‘forces of evil’

WASHINGTON — If Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) is on a mission from God, as he maintains, someone might want to tell God already.

Since Virginia voters cast their Republican primary ballots on June 18, the two-term incumbent who chairs the far-right Freedom Caucus has been trailing his opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, by upward of 300 votes out of just over 62,000 ballots cast.

Good’s demanding a recount. He’s also trying to pray away “the forces of evil” conspiring against him.

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“I think it’s owed to the 31,000 people in the district who voted for me, and there's those true conservatives in Virginia and across the country that are outraged at the forces of evil that tried to influence this race — that did influence this race — and we owe it to them to make sure that it's right,” Good told Raw Story after voting in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

By “forces of evil,” Good doesn’t mean former President Donald Trump or even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — both of whom backed McGuire.

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To Good, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is evil incarnate. That feeling has seemed mutual since Good and seven other House Republicans ingloriously, if historically, ousted McCarthy last year.

Good is a graduate of and former fundraiser for Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. Arguably, his biggest critic contends he’s blinded by his own light.

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“He can't win a real primary, because he's insane,” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), who Good defeated in 2020, told Raw Story. “There's no such thing as ‘forces of evil.’ Listen, stupidity and evil look very similar. And I think that's where he gets confused, because he's stupid.”

As is easily surmised, Riggleman — an ex-intelligence official who worked as a data analyst for the select Jan. 6 committee — is no fan of Good.

Good ended Riggleman’s time in Congress in part because he made an issue out of Riggleman officiating a same-sex marriage for a former staffer the year earlier. Good and officials in Virginia’s Republican Party also forced an in-person convention — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — of the party faithful, instead of conducting a Republican congressional primary.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). JLauer/Shutterstock

In the wake of this year’s primary, Good is calling for changes to the rules. He’s especially bemoaning the commonwealth's open primary system that allows independents and Democrats to vote in GOP primaries (as well as allowing Republicans to weigh in on Democratic ones.)

“That absolutely should be changed. We should have party registration in VIrginia. We should have closed primaries, or we need to go back to conventions and not allow Democrats to choose our nominee in primaries,” Good said. “There’s no question we would have won a convention.”

Good contends he won the hearts and minds of his party.

“I know we got the majority of Republican votes. The other side had to reach out and did reach out to Democrats crossover votes. It's an unfortunate reality in Virginia that our system allows Democrats to vote in Republican primaries, and we are certain that there were certainly more than 300 or 400 people who voted in this election for my opponent,” Good said.

A request for comment from the campaign of McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, wasn’t returned.

Riggleman dismissed Good’s griping.

“‘Forces of evil’ — so you're telling me that a primary that's actually fair, rather than a convention where they could limit the number of voters to beat me means that the people are the forces of evil?” Riggleman said. “That's somebody who's mentally unstable.”

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Riggleman added: “Yes, he said he could win in a convention. Because the convention is anti-American. A convention is for those who can't win a primary, which we just saw with Bob Good.”

The Virginia Board of Elections has yet to call the race, even as the chair of Virginia’s Republican Party, Richard Anderson, congratulated McGuire for winning earlier this week.

Good currently trails by 0.6 percentage points,, which means he can call for a recount according to state law, though he’s got to come up with a way to pay for it.

Regardless, he says he’s all in.

“There's some things that are concerning and that need to be reviewed, and we're going to do that. And I'm not going to be particular about that process,” Good said. “I’d rather be 300 votes ahead than 300 votes behind.”

But he’s currently behind: Something for which Good blames McCarthy.

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“It’s money that was wasted. It should have been spent in November to defeat Democrats. It's a race that never should have happened,” Good said. “It was a challenge based on lies by a dishonest opponent and funded by the former speaker whose mission in life seems to be to get revenge on those he holds responsible for him not being speaker.”

But Good says it’s not about payback.

“I'm not really concerned about that. We're just gonna do our best to win this recount,” Good said.

To Riggleman, there’s no pleasure watching these two Republicans digitally knife each other over his former seat.

“McGuire’s crazier than Bob Good. Think about that,” Riggleman said. “You're seeing a fight of crazy against crazy. Nobody's the good guy. No, nobody’s the good guy here. This is just people who want power and payback. It has nothing to do with the American people. It's about their own personal self-aggrandizement and power trips.”

Riggleman, in noting he wasn’t conservative enough for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, mused that Good — one of the nation’s most conservative lawmakers — might also not be conservative enough.

“That's what's crazy about this election,” Riggleman said. “I think Bob represents Christian nationalism. He represents a decision making methodology that's not based in facts; it's based in fantasy. And I think that really is a lure to a lot of GOP voters, that there's this good against evil battle going on out there and they're on the good side, regardless of facts.”

‘Boot licker brigade’: Former GOP congressman says Trump cult will only grow

WASHINGTON — In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict, America’s about to see GOP unity like never before.

Only this time, Republicans will be unifying around a convicted felon, which should terrify us all, a former Republican congressman tells Raw Story.

“He's a coward. And the guy doesn't like to defend himself. He wants other people to do it for him, just like we saw on January 6,” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) told Raw Story. “The base instinct of Donald Trump is to hide behind the walls of Mar-a-Lago or wherever his homes are and let the sycophants go out there and actually do the battle. So he's scared. He's a bit of a little boy right now.”

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Whether Trump’s a little man, large boy or something else altogether, Riggleman says he’s braced for today’s Republicans to continue defending, praising and cheerleading for Trump through Election Day. Mug shot, perp walk and all.

“We're gonna see the vice presidential sweepstakes start, and you're gonna see coordinated messaging from the NRCC [National Republican Campaign Committee], the RNC [Republican National Committee] and from the [House GOP] whip team. And you're gonna see all them coming out with the same exact messaging,” said Riggleman, a former intelligence analyst who served as a technical analyst for the U.S. House Jan. 6 Select Committee.

Now that Trump’s a convicted felon, one might believe his support in the Republican Party would wane, but the former Republican congressman isn’t so sure.

“I just don't see this having a blip on polling. Not even a blip. It's another day. Just another day,” Riggleman said. “I just hope that there's still enough gravitas in Congress on the right and the GOP to recognize that there's never been a former president convicted. I think it should disqualify him. And I think the American people should be very wary of a man who refused to testify in his own defense.”

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). JLauer / Shutterstock

Why would card-carrying Republican voters buck the party’s leaders?

After all, Trump was joined at his New York City trial by a veritable who’s who in today’s GOP: House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) — who’s running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader — and many others.

“It’s the bootlicker brigade, and you can quote me on that,” Riggleman bemoaned. “I think that's what scares me — you have such a lack of courage and a lack of gravitas in Congress now.”

Pre- and post-verdict are two different Trumps, according to Riggleman. Anyone who embraces Trump now is embracing a convicted felon, after all.

“That’s what's going to be so ‘fun’ to watch, is who comes out and belly crawls and actually subjugates himself the most to Donald Trump, and we'll see who those people are,” Riggleman said.

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Such a scene illustrates how the Republican Party has so dramatically changed, Riggleman said.

“What's changed in recent years, I think the real underbelly of hate and xenophobia and racism have bubbled up so hard,” Riggleman said. “And there's a more coordinated effort. I think social media has really been the discriminating factor with radicalization across the board for a significant portion of the GOP.”

But for their pro-Trump bluster and confidence-projecting, Republican leaders are running scared, Riggleman said.

“They’re worried about the mob. And just like Rome, they have to keep the mob happy. That’s it. It isn't about courage. It’s not about telling the truth. It's about winning. It's about polling. It's about fundraising,” Riggleman said. “And it's about bootlicking Trump in order to stay in power or to have your own type of gravitas on whatever far-right avenue you've decided to drive in.”

While Riggleman hasn’t served in Congress since 2021, he still monitors the House of Representatives. He’s sensed a change in the GOP conference from afar.

“I think the other scary thing is that you have true believers,” Riggleman said.

That’s new.

“When Jan. 6 happened, they said ‘of course it was Trump’s fault, but we can’t say that or we won’t get reelected,’” Riggleman recounted. “But I do believe that we now have true believers. I think they do believe this is a war of good against evil, with Trump being ordained from on high. And you see the evangelicals behind Trump, which has now become that Democrats are demonic. It’s still a QAnon type of belief system.”

While some Republicans despise the term “Christian nationalism” — publicly, at least — others in the GOP embrace it, just as they embrace the notion that America is God’s chosen promised land.

“I think Christian Nationalism has really gained a much bigger foothold than anybody can imagine,” Riggleman said.

Riggleman bemoans the devolution.

“Ignorance has become sort of a badge of honor for many millions of Americans,” Riggleman said. “And I find it interesting that stupidity is now a superpower, and I think that should scare the sane.”

Going forward, Riggleman’s most afraid that Trump and company are getting ready to upend government as we know it if they recapture the White House in November. He points to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint for sweeping reforms under a second Trump administration.

“I really think that's the founding document for what's gonna happen in the future, and I think Trump is really the leader of the project 2025 movement,” Riggleman said. “It’s an administrative purge, and, I think, they've learned a lot of lessons.”

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In the White House, Trump was sometimes blocked by the likes of, say, former Vice President Mike Pence or former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. Not so much going forward. Riggleman says Trump has chosen “loyalty over competence” this go-round.

“What you have now is loyalty over competency. I think that should scare the American public —- the ones that actually believe in reality, it should scare the s— out of ´em,” Riggleman said. “I still don't think the Democrats, independents or center-right Republicans who are #NeverTrump, I don't think they recognize that threat. I still think they're living in a bubble and got their head in the sand and they don't understand the danger.”

Riggleman also fears the energy on the right. And he knows every indictment or guilty verdict only intensifies the storm that’s brewing.

“Remember, crazy has so much more energy than sanity. So the sane better take a case of Red Bull with them and start getting going right now. I’m telling you, the sane need to step up,” Riggleman told Raw Story. “You better understand what you're up against … this isn't gonna to do a damn thing to stop the Trump train.”

Trump fake elector prosecutions could soon ensnare members of Congress

WASHINGTON – The justice system is closing in on former President Donald Trump, and soon, some expect that dragnet will ensnare elected members of Congress.

Before lawmakers left town for a month-long recess, Raw Story caught up with two Republicans the U.S. House January 6 select committee named as central to the scheme to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to certify slates of fake electors after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

The two lawmakers were dismissive and said no prosecutors, either local or federal, had contacted them in their quest to hold fake electors and their enablers accountable.

“Not me. I've gotten nothing,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) – who allegedly tried to pass Wisconsin fake electors to Pence — told Raw Story at the Capitol. “There’s nothing to come after me for.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)

Johnson also dismissed the fake elector case in Michigan as “absurd.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) – chairman of the House Freedom Caucus – also brushed aside concerns and said he hasn’t been contacted.

“No,” Perry – who the January 6 select committee flagged to the House Ethics Committee for refusing to sit for an interview – told Raw Story while walking to the Capitol. “I don’t have any concerns.”

Others aren’t so sure. During the Jan. 6 select committee proceedings, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) accused Perry of asking Trump for a pardon after the failed insurrection.

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“Look at the congressmen and their text messages, they obviously were in some coordinating function. The issue is, does it rise to the level of indictment?” former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) – who served as an adviser to the Jan. 6 committee – told Raw Story this week. “But as this testimony comes out, I think they're going to get on one of those things called a Pucker Factor 10. I think they're going to be biting buttonholes in their underwear when the actual evidence comes out.”

Perry and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows exchanged at least 62 text messages between the 2020 election and President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. In one exchange, Perry informed Meadows they’d begun the “cyber portion” of their efforts to overturn the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona.

Hot pursuit of fake electors

In July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped felony charges on 16 Republicans she alleges were at the center of her state’s fake elector scheme. Last week, the Associated Press reported the FBI and Justice Department questioned Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe earlier this year.

The scheming around fake electors is also central to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump. He dubs the “criminal scheme” to send slates of fake electors to Congress the “Wisconsin Memo.”

“The plan began in early December,” the indictment reads, “and ultimately, the conspirators and the Defendant’s Campaign took the Wisconsin Memo and expanded it to any state that the Defendant claimed was “contested” — even New Mexico which the Defendant had lost by more than ten percent of the popular vote.”

The indictment then quotes a Dec. 6 email from former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that accompanied the Wisconsin Memo.

“We just need to have someone coordinating the electors for states,” Meadows is quoted on page 23 of the indictment as sending campaign staff.

Then, on Dec. 27 – just over a week away from the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. – the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, told Trump, according to the indictment, “that the Justice Department could not and would not change the outcome of the election.”

“Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Trump is quoted as replying.

The evidence speaks for itself, Riggleman tells Raw Story.

“To quote Hunter Thompson: facts are a million-pound s— hammer. And fact-based insights based on data is a 2-million-pound s— hammer,” Riggleman said.

All eyes are now watching to see if other state attorneys general follow Michigan’s lead and seek prosecutions for those involved in the fake elector plot, including Republicans on Capitol Hill.

“I give credit to the attorney general because people are not above the law, and they broke the law,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) recently told Raw Story. “These are people that lied about the most important thing, which is our democracy.”