Spanberger touts endorsement from 'Republican' who left GOP, backed Kamala, defended Hunter Biden

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Abigail Spanberger has seemingly touted the endorsement of “Republican” Denver Riggleman in her campaign, despite the fact that the former Virginia congressman left the GOP years ago, backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, assisted the Hunter Biden legal team, and even defended the infamous Hunter Biden laptop letter.

Spanberger released a September campaign ad titled “Republicans” — which featured endorsements from Riggleman and former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock, also a former Virginia congresswoman and frequent Trump critic — but, contrary to the implication by Spanberger’s campaign, Riggleman has not been a Republican for years.

Riggleman, who lost his GOP primary in 2020 and served only one term in Congress, left the Republican Party by 2022 and perhaps in 2021. After his short stint in the House, Riggleman went on to be a technical adviser for the Democrat-led January 6 congressional select committee and then helped President Joe Biden’s son cast doubt on the authenticity of his infamous laptop.

A fan of censorship: if she disagrees with it

Spanberger herself said in an October 2020 debate that she supported Big Tech censorship of “Russian propaganda” — making the comment immediately following her opponent’s condemnation of social media companies for censoring stories about Joe and Hunter Biden.

Riggleman is currently the CEO of Riggleman Information and Intelligence Group and is a frequent Trump critic on social media and Substack.

Riggleman told MSNBC in May 2021 that “I’m about there” in terms of leaving the Republican Party, saying, “I’m wondering at this point, am I even a Republican in Virginia? I don’t know anymore. … It’s very difficult to know where I fit, and I’m getting to the point of no mas, to be honest with you.” The Washington Post reported in May 2021 that Riggleman “no longer calls himself a Republican.”

Riggleman told CNN’s Jake Tapper in June 2022 that he was no longer a Republican. He said “I don’t” when asked if he still considered himself a Republican, claiming that “I think the party left me some time ago. … What I’ve seen behind the scenes has pushed me even further away — that the party has moved even further away from conservative principles to this cult of personality that Liz Cheney is talking about.”

Spanberger did not respond to a request for comment sent through her campaign. Riggleman did not respond to a request for comment sent to him through his company website.

“Republican” Riggleman endorses Virginia Democrat

The Spanberger campaign issued a press release in September announcing that “Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger released a new TV and digital ad for her campaign to serve as the next Governor of Virginia highlighting endorsements from former Virginia Republican Members of Congress Denver Riggleman and Barbara Comstock.”

In the campaign ad — titled “Republicans” on YouTube by the Spanberger campaign — both Riggleman and Comstock declared that “I served as a Republican in Congress” as Riggleman proclaimed that “we’re both voting for Abigail Spanberger for Governor.”

Riggleman claimed in the ad that “Abigail and I had our policy differences, but she has integrity” as both Riggleman and Comstock stated that “I’m proudly voting for Abigail Spanberger for Governor.”

Spanberger shared the ad on X in September, saying, “At a time when our politics feel so divided, Virginians want — and deserve — a Governor who can work with anyone to deliver results. I’m proud to have the support of @BarbaraComstock, @Denver4VA, and Republicans across the Commonwealth who are focused on putting Virginia first.”

The Democratic gubernatorial hopeful’s campaign put out another September press release touting Riggleman’s praise for Spanberger during an MSNBC appearance, and her campaign uploaded Riggleman’s TV appearance to the campaign’s YouTube page.

“Abby is actually a very close friend of mine,” Riggleman told MSNBC. “I don’t know if you know this… but we came in on the 116th Congress together and we started to talk and we found out and we became such close friends… We became very close.”

Riggleman also endorsed Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., in his reelection bid in October of last year.

Spanberger had touted an endorsement from Riggleman back in 2022 as well, when she was running for reelection for the House seat. Spanberger shared the October 2022 ad on Twitter, saying, “@RepRiggleman endorsed our campaign, because he understands what’s at stake in this election — and he knows how committed I am to serving our country and the Virginians I represent. I appreciate his endorsement and his willingness to put country over party. “

In the ad, Riggleman described himself as a “Republican congressman” despite having said on national TV months prior that he had already left the GOP.

“This is not a typical political ad. I’m a Republican congressman saying nice things about a Democrat,” Riggleman said in the ad in 2022. “In Congress, the parties sit apart and don’t work together — except Abigail Spanberger. She keeps trying to change Congress and make it work. And she’s ranked the most bipartisan member of Congress from Virginia and fifth in the country. In the CIA, Abigail worked counterterrorism. She puts country first. That’s why I support Abigail.”

Spanberger’s campaign labeled the Riggleman endorsement video “an unusual ad” in a campaign email.

The Washington Post wrote a story about Riggleman’s endorsement of Spanberger at the time, and Riggleman told the outlet, “I think tribal politics is the worst thing we can have. I think that’s another reason for Abby, is that she’s bipartisan — she certainly wants to help the people in her district regardless of if they’re Republican or Democrat, and that’s a special trait to have.”

The outlet also published an opinion piece — titled “Spanberger’s October surprise might be Denver Riggleman” — which said, “Maybe it’s a case of Riggleman seeking to pick up where the late former senator John Warner — who took to endorsing Democrats rather than Republicans in his later years — left off. There’s ample room — and a crying need — for a principle-above-party figure in Virginia politics. Is Riggleman the one? For the moment he might be. Or at least that’s what the Spanberger campaign is counting on with the Riggleman ad.”

Riggleman backed Kamala against Trump

Riggleman also endorsed Harris in August 2024, and he became the Virginia chair of “Republicans for Harris” in the race. The Harris campaign released a statement from Riggleman endorsing her, where he claimed that “I’ve seen with my own eyes how Trump’s thirst for power, revenge, and retribution is his real motivation, and that’s why I cannot stand by while he tries to destroy our country.”

The former congressman said in September 2024 that “I’m not going to agree with Kamala Harris probably 30% of the time, but she’s not insane, and she’s going to protect democratic institutions.” He also said that month that “my lone objective is to make sure Donald Trump isn’t elected.”

Riggleman campaigned with Harris in the swing state of Pennsylvania in October 2024. Riggleman told MSNBC that he told Harris, “So listen, I was former Air Force. I just want to tell you: We got your six, and kick his ass.” Trump defeated Harris a month later.

Riggleman and the phone data mapping of Trump World

Just the News reported this week that Democrat-led congressional investigators collected 30 million lines of phone data mapping contacts between conservatives and the Trump White House in the name of investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, according to an FBI memo recounting a December 2023 discussion with former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger. The FBI memo says that Kinzinger told the FBI that the phone data had been collected by Riggleman.

The FBI agents wrote in their memo that “while former congressman Denver Riggleman worked with the Select Committee he (Riggleman) had a contact and was able to obtain toll information including for White House root or switchboard numbers via congressional subpoena.”

“Kinzinger noted that he (Kinzinger) did not conduct the analysis himself but that Riggleman had identified certain telephone connections between numbers identified as being associated with the White House and certain individuals,” the FBI memo continued.

“Kinzinger indicated that Riggleman may have never received direction on what to do with the toll data, which included approximately 30 million lines of data,” the FBI memo stated. “Kinzinger believed it was in an electronic format but did not know if it was the original subpoena returns."

Kinzinger, a self-described “Proud RINO [Republican in Name Only],” admitted that he did indeed discuss this with the FBI, writing on Substack this week that “Congress used lawful subpoenas to obtain phone metadata in 2021. It was routine. It was reported. It was discussed openly. In 2023, I had a brief discussion with members of the FBI reminding them of this data if they needed it in their investigation. Regardless, they didn’t seem interested and that was that.”

Kinzinger also wrote that “these subpoenas were announced publicly, covered by every major outlet, and later detailed by Denver Riggleman, the committee’s technical adviser, in his book The Breach and in a 60 Minutes interview.”

Riggleman indicated in his 2022 book that the select committee had obtained “eighteen million lines of data to sketch a portrait of the January 6th plot” – not the nearly doubled amount of 30 million lines of data that Kinzinger indicated to the FBI a year later.

60 Minutes reported in 2022, when interviewing Riggleman, that Riggleman’s team had to “comb through 20 million lines of data: e-mails, social media posts, phone records, texts, anything to learn who did what leading up to and on January 6th” — ten million fewer lines than Kinzinger alerted the FBI about the next year.

The bureau memo obtained by Just the News stated that Kinzinger told the FBI in 2023 that the J6 committee “collected and linked a substantial amount of telephone data, and noted the FBI may already possess such data.”

Riggleman said in a tweet this week that the J6 committee “used lawful congressional subpoenas to obtain call detail records (CDRs) which is simply high-level metadata showing who called or texted whom, when, and for how long.” He added that “the estimated total ‘data lines’ (in or around 30,000,000) for the entire technical investigation are vastly different from the amount of CDRs [call detail records] which numbered only in the hundreds.”

“Our analysis identified targets – or, excuse me, persons of interest – that the committee had no idea about,” Riggleman claimed in his 2022 book. “We identified and validated addresses for subpoenas and hidden phone numbers. We built dossiers for the investigative team with robust profiles of these individuals.”

Riggleman says J6 Committee laid the groundwork for Jack Smith

Separately, another recently unearthed FBI record from 2023 indicated that investigators at the bureau had “conducted preliminary toll analysis on limited toll records” tied to phone calls related to GOP Sens. Johnson, Lindsey Graham, South Carolina; Bill Hagerty, Tennessee; Josh Hawley, Missouri; Dan Sullivan, Alaska; Tommy Tuberville, Alabama; Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming; Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee; and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly, Pennsylvania.

“Deranged Jack Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. A real sleazebag!!!” Trump said on Truth Social last week in response to the news.

“This document shows the Biden FBI spied on 8 of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith's elector case against Trump,” Grassley said last week as he shared the FBI record that had been provided to him by Patel. “BIDEN FBI WEAPONIZATION = WORSE THAN WATERGATE.”

Riggleman responded to last week’s revelation that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith had obtained the phone records of Republican members of the House and Senate by hinting that he had helped lay the groundwork for that to happen.

“If people need to know about the difference in metadata & tapping phones, give me a call,” Riggleman tweeted in response to the news. “Also, I know the limitations the FBI most likely imposed — because the J6 committee tech team ‘very much’ assisted in crafting the subpoenas for J6 call records. There’s a book about it.”

Riggleman assists the Hunter Biden legal team

After his time on the Jan. 6 committee, it was revealed in July 2023 that Riggleman was helping Hunter Biden’s legal team undercut investigations into Joe Biden’s son.

"Denver has been assisting us with data analysis since late last year," Hunter Biden lawyer and friend Kevin Morris told CBS News at the time. "He is an invaluable resource and we have made tremendous strides in untangling the massive amount of corruption and disinformation involved in this story. There will be much more coming to the public." 

Riggleman told the media at the time that "I and my forensics, data, and telephony team are conducting data investigations and analysis for Hunter Biden's legal team" and that he was focusing on "data across the spectrum."

The outlet said Riggleman had reportedly spent months “providing digital forensic analysis for the Biden legal team on whether any data linked to Hunter Biden, such as text messages, has been distorted or fabricated.”

Riggleman told then-CNN host Jim Acosta that month that his role with the Hunter Biden team “is really the same as it was with the committee — was really technical and analytical support based on computer forensics and phone forensics” and that “I've been tracking data and what everybody has been saying over the past two years."

“I also found out, as the Hunter Biden legal team reached out to me, that a lot of the people who have been pushing this are the same people who pushed the J6 conspiracy theories,” Riggleman claimed. 

Riggleman tweeted that month that “when I took this job, I wasn't pro-Hunter or anti-Hunter. I am pro-data and facts. Forensics make clear that considerable information linked to Hunter Biden is questionable."

IRS whistleblowers previously revealed that the FBI verified the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop in late 2019 — nearly a year before the New York Post's stories and the laptop letter. It would be another eighteen months — and after the election — that the New York Times and Washington Post accepted that the laptop truly was Biden's.

Smith indicted Trump in August 2023 related to the Capitol riot, and Riggleman responded by defending Hunter Biden.

“When you talk about Hunter Biden, the ‘whataboutism’ defense is going to be huge,” Riggleman said on MSNBC. “I have the forensics on the Hunter Biden data… The same people behind J6 are behind the Hunter Biden laptop, it goes back to [Steve] Bannon and [Rudy] Giuliani… So it gets more and more dangerous as they go down the Hunter Biden laptop route.”

Riggleman said in an October 2023 video for the leftwing Meidas Touch that media outlets were “wrong” when they concluded that they had validated the authenticity of the laptop. Riggleman defended “the aggressiveness of the Hunter Biden legal team” and said there should be more “compassion” for Hunter Biden.

"Data. Chain of custody. Forensics,” Riggleman tweeted in November 2023. “All of these work against the GOP in their investigation into Hunter Biden."

Riggleman again sought to cast doubt on the laptop during an April 2024 podcast episode for Meidas Touch. In an episode of his “Denver After Dark” show that month, Riggleman lamented the “B.S.” about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

After the guilty verdict in the Hunter Biden gun trial, Riggleman called the gun case against Hunter Biden “frivolous” after he was convicted. Riggleman lamented on the Tennessee Brando Show then that the Justice Department had “put the laptop in evidence” and seemed to admit that at least some emails had indeed come from “the specific laptop” as he claimed that “they just wanted to put it in there to get news — that the laptop is real.”

Riggleman said on “Denver After Dark” in June 2024 that “I know Hunter … I’m friends with Hunter Biden at this point after working for the legal team on specific data forensics since December 16, 2022.” Riggleman called it a “classy move” that Joe Biden “wasn’t going to get in the way of … any federal court case.”

In December 2024, Biden provided his son with a full pardon for any and all  crimes he may have committed.

Earlier this year, Riggleman said in a May episode of “Denver After Dark” that CNN host Jake Tapper was a “click whore” for his book — Original Sin — which detailed Joe Biden’s physical frailty and mental decline when he was president.

Riggleman launched a podcast — Truth in the Barrel — with former Air Force veteran and Democratic activist Amy McGrath earlier this year. McGrath lost to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the 2020 Senate race, and she declared in October that she would be running for the seat again.

The March trailer for the Riggleman-McGrath podcast of this year was titled “All You Fascists Bound To Lose” — a reference to the Woody Guthrie song and, presumably, to Trump.

Riggleman helped push "Russian disinformation" hoax about Hunter's laptop

Riggleman joined a September 2024 episode of the Mission Implausible podcast hosted by Hunter Biden laptop letter signers John Sipher and Jerry O’Shea.

The infamous Oct. 2020 laptop letter helped contribute to the baseless narrative that the Hunter Biden laptop stories were nothing but a product of Russian disinformation — a narrative seized upon by Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and spread by some of the laptop letter signers.

Although the laptop letter hedged a bit at various times, it did repeatedly contend there was Russian involvement with the laptop stories, arguing that “if we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election” and expressing “our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue.”

The letter claimed that the laptop saga “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” and that “our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

Riggleman told the podcast hosts last year that “the 51 signers of the letter will probably be smiling a little bit about validation” and that “I think when people attack I don’t think they understand what Russian amplification or influence looks like, but you guys do.”

The Jan. 6 committee staffer and Hunter Biden legal team's helper said that “I would be offensive” not “defensive” about signing the Hunter Biden laptop letter.

Riggleman said on the podcast that he had joined the team helping Joe Biden’s son in 2022, claiming that Hunter Biden’s attorneys took a private flight to Virginia to convince Riggleman to help them. He said he then went on a Zoom call with Hunter Biden and his wife, who asked, “Will you please help us.” At the end of the call, Riggleman says he told them, “I will help.”

The former Republican claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop stories were based on “fabricated data,” “manipulated data,” and “out of context data” — though he did not provide proof.

Sipher wrote an article for The Bulwark in March where he sought to defend his decision to sign the Hunter Biden laptop letter, and he cited Riggleman by claiming that “the unusual circumstances of the story, along with the murky chain of custody — former congressman and Air Force officer Denver Riggleman, as a member of Hunter Biden’s legal team, reviewed the entirety of the data and found it forensically unsound, most likely containing a mix of information from multiple drives and devices — only heightened our concerns.”

The laptop letter signer also said in June on the Jack Hopkins Show that “some of the people that I've gotten to meet since I've retired and become friends with in the political space, who I really am impressed by, are women like Abigail Spanberger, who's running for governor here in Virginia.”

Hopkins told Sipher that “you're somebody I know I would enjoy having a beer with.”

“Well, that's what we need to do,” Sipher said. “We need to go to Denver Riggleman's place and get free bourbon from him. I think he owes that to us. Yes, and I think I can get one of the Vindmans there, and maybe I can get Abigail Spanberger.”

Sipher cut ads for Spanberger in 2018 and 2020 when she ran for Congress and as she came under fire for teaching at a radical Saudi academy in northern Virginia, and he is supporting the Democrat’s current bid to be Virginia governor.

The Steady State, a group of hundreds of former U.S. intelligence officials (including some, including Sipher, who signed the infamous Hunter Biden laptop letter), has also reemerged on the scene to attack FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard while handing out endorsements to leftwing Trump foes such as Spanberger.