Top Republican staffer on January 6th committee will leave position to work with Ukraine nonprofit

Former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman from Virginia, who has been serving as a staff member to the select House committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol building, is set to leave his position in the next few weeks in order to start working with a nonprofit organization in Ukraine. 

Two sources close to Riggleman and his decision told CNN that his planned exit was “amicable.” The former representative sent the chairman and vice chairwoman a letter letting them know his choice, and in the letter, which was obtained by CNN, Riggleman wrote that his “initial work has been completed” for the committee.

“It is my sincerest hope that this committee can produce a facts-based report on those responsible for January 6th, and identify processes and policies to prevent such activities in the future,” he wrote. “The importance of the committee cannot be overstated,” he went on to say in the letter.

Riggleman is considered to be an expert on disinformation and he was a senior technical advisor who worked alongside a team going through the data the committee was bringing in as part of its investigation. Even after he leaves, that work will continue. 

Riggleman was unable to pick his seat in central Virginia back up again in the 2020 election after he was challenged in a GOP primary by conservative Bob Good.

As a challenger, Good criticized Riggleman’s decision to officiate a wedding for a same-sex couple. Once he left Congress, Riggleman became an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump as well as other GOP leadership in the House of Representatives.