Former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman is being brought in as an adviser to the Democratic-controlled select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement Friday evening that his former House colleague, an intelligence officer for the Air Force and National Security Agency contractor, “brings a deep background in national security and intelligence matters.”
Riggleman is joined by Homeland Security Department Principal Deputy General Counsel Joseph Maher, who has “distinguished himself across his career as a public servant,” Thompson said. The chairman added Maher was picked on recommendation from Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republican members of the committee.
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“These two individuals will provide invaluable insight and expertise as we piece together what happened on January 6th and in the time leading up to it,” Thompson said.
The select committee is examining the events surrounding the siege of Congress by hundreds of rioters as lawmakers certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. The panel held its first hearing last week, during which some lawmakers teared up as officers painted scenes of chaos and destruction. At the same time, the Justice Department is in the middle of prosecuting more than 550 individuals who have been charged in connection to the riot, 30 of whom have pleaded guilty.
Former President Donald Trump, who urged supporters to march on the Capitol at a nearby rally on the day of the riot, was impeached by the House on a charge of incitement of insurrection but later acquitted by the Senate.
Riggleman is now CEO of Riggleman Information and Intelligence Group, which supports technology development in the domestic counterterrorism space. Before that, he served one term as representative for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. Riggleman lost his bid for reelection in 2020 against primary challenger Bob Good, who went on to win the seat, and in the months after the November contest criticized Trump and others who claimed the presidential election was stolen due to widespread fraud.
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“That really is, really, I think, the Island of the Misfit Toys at that point. You have crossed the Rubicon, you jumped on the crazy train, and you’re headed into the cliffs that guard the flat Earth at that time, brother,” Riggleman told Yahoo News last year.
The only two Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee, vocal Trump critics Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, were appointed to the post by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. No Republican-appointed members sit on the committee after Pelosi vetoed two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jordan, prompting McCarthy to pull all of his recommendations and not participate in the process.
Senate Republicans previously blocked bipartisan legislation to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack after the House approved it, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling it a “purely political exercise.”
