Riggleman says Cheney had “outrageous” influence on the Jan. 6 panel

A former Republican congressman who served as an adviser to the House selection committee investigating last year’s Capitol riots said he believes Rep. Liz Cheney will have an “outsize” influence on the panel’s forthcoming final report on the events of March 6 January 2021.

“I think they should have more members who should take the ball and run with it when it comes to some of these reports,” said former Congressman Denver Riggleman, who resigned from his advisory role earlier this year CNN On Sunday.

“It’s hard for me to criticize specifically, but I think Liz probably had outsized influence and maybe too much influence on the committee. But on the other hand, that’s my opinion,” added Riggleman, who represented Virginia’s 5th Circuit for a single term before being unseated by current Rep. Bob Good.

Riggleman, 52, added that he doesn’t know what will be in the committee’s final report, which is expected to be released next month.

The former House Member’s comments follow a report that a number of past and current House staffers are upset about how Cheney (R-Wyo.) wielded her influence on the body and viewed it as a possible stepping stone to a 2024 presidential election.

They say Cheney, the panel’s vice chair and one of its two Republican members, urged its members to focus the report on former President Donald Trump.

That emphasis would see other issues — including the failure of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to stop the insurgency, information about the financing of the attack, and the role of militia and extremist groups in fueling the violence — relegated to the report’s appendix or discarded entirely.

“We all came from prestigious jobs and left our jobs because we were told that this would be an important investigative investigation that would inform the public,” a former committee staffer told the Washington Post last week. “But if [the committee] became a Cheney 2024 campaign, many of us were discouraged.”

Cheney, one of just 10 Republicans who voted to impeach the former president for his involvement in the Capitol riots, was defeated by Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman in the Republican primary at the Wyoming House in August.

She will leave office in January.

A spokesman for Cheney responded to the Washington Post’s report of the criticism.

“Donald Trump is the first president in American history to attempt to overturn an election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” said Jeremy Adler. “So, damn right, Liz ‘prioritized’ understanding what he did and how he did it, and making sure it never happens again.”