Virginia deputy attorney general resigns after posts emerge of her praising January 6 rioters
By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
A deputy attorney general in Virginia resigned Thursday after Facebook posts resurfaced in which she called rioters who had stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, “patriots” and made reference to the “deep state.”
Monique Miles, a now-former deputy for Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, is the latest public official to face public backlash for comments made about the insurrection at the Capitol.
“News Flash: Patriots have stormed the Capitol. No surprise. The deep state has awoken the sleeping giant,” Miles wrote on the day of the riot, according to The Washington Post, which first reported her posts. “Patriots are not taking this lying down. We are awake, ready and will fight for our rights by any means necessary.”
Miles later edited her Facebook post, claiming that the mob was “antifa dressed as Patriots” and “Patriots are peace loving, Antifa and BLM are not,” according to the newspaper.
In comments on her post, Miles allegedly referred to the riot as a “peaceful protest” and said people shouldn’t believe the mainstream media.
The Virginia Attorney General’s Office said it had not seen Miles’ comments before they had been reported by the Post, and denounced both what she said on Facebook and the Capitol riot itself.
“This information was unknown to the Office of the Attorney General prior to this morning,” said Victoria LaCivita, a spokesperson for Miyares. “Ms. Miles has resigned from her position at the Office of the Attorney General.”
“The attorney general has been very clear: Joe Biden won the election and he has condemned the January 6 attack,” LaCivita added, addressing comments by Miles endorsing the lie that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
CNN has attempted to reach Miles.
Miles told the Post that her Facebook posts “have been taken out of context.”
“The posts were made at a time when the news was still developing re: the facts around the election, the court cases, the Rally on the Ellipse and what happened at the capitol,” she wrote in an email to the newspaper. “That was before all the audits occurred.”
“What we know now about the election today is very different from what we knew on Election Day 2020 or even what we knew on the day that President Biden was inaugurated in January 2021. I believe he is our president as he was certified as such,” she added, according to the Post.
On Thursday, a disabled Iraq War veteran who pleaded guilty to punching two police officers in the head during the attack became the 100th member of the mob that stormed the Capitol to be sentenced in federal court, according to CNN records.
The Justice Department shows no signs of slowing down its probe into January 6, charging new defendants and striking new plea deals almost every day. So far this year, the department has arrested more than 25 new defendants, and has suggested there are still hundreds to pursue.
The-CNN-Wire
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