Capitol riot committee hires former GOP representative as senior staffer

‘It’s time for us to look in a fact-based way, what happened on January 6’, Denver Riggleman says

A House committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol has hired former Republican Rep Denver Riggleman as a senior staff member, bringing on the one-term Virginia lawmaker after GOP leaders criticised the panel as too partisan.

The committee’s chairman, Mississippi Rep Bennie Thompson, announced Mr Riggleman’s hiring on Friday evening, saying Mr Riggleman has a “deep background in national security and intelligence matters”.

In a video posted to his Twitter account, Mr Riggleman said his background in military intelligence, national security and data analytics meant he was well suited to the role.

It’s time. Thank you to the committee for your confidence. It’s an honor to serve alongside those who represent the best of America. We will see this mission through. #Jan6Committee pic.twitter.com/zPzXYNu2wS

— Denver Riggleman (@RepRiggleman) August 7, 2021

“I have to say doing this might be one of the biggest things I’ve done in my life, that includes deploying almost 20 years ago right after 9/11,” he said.

“We can’t worry about the colours on our jerseys any more, whether we have an R or a D next to our name. It’s time for us to look in a fact-based way, what happened on January 6 to see if we can prevent this from ever happening again in the future.”

He promised to be “professional, transparent and ethical”.

Mr Riggleman served in naval intelligence and worked at the National Security Agency before he was elected to the House in 2018. He was defeated by Republican Bob Good in 2020.

The committee is investigating the insurrection by former President Donald Trump’s supporters, who beat police, broke into the building and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

The House voted to form the committee in June and has held one hearing with police officers who were injured and verbally attacked that day.

Mr Riggleman’s hiring comes after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy decided not to appoint any members to the panel and called it a “sham.”

He had originally tapped five Republicans to serve on the committee but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of them, prompting McCarthy to withdraw his members completely.

Ms Pelosi later appointed two Republicans who have been critical of Trump, his role in the insurrection and his lies about widespread election fraud – Illinois Rep Adam Kinzinger and Wyoming Rep Liz Cheney. Ms Cheney recommended Mr Riggleman, also a Trump critic, for the job on the panel.

The committee also announced the appointment of Joe Maher, a principal deputy general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr Maher will also serve as a senior staff member on detail from the Homeland department, where he has served for more than a decade.

In the statement, Mr Thompson said Mr Riggleman and Mr Maher “understand how close our democracy was to catastrophe on January 6th and I commend their commitment to help ensure we never see a repeat of that day”.

The commission began hearing testimony earlier this month from Capitol police officers who were injured trying to keep the mob of thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump from entering the House chamber.

The Associated Press contributed to this report