Denver Riggleman, Part 2

Impolitic with John Heilemann

Audacy | Puck

News, Politics

4.8 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this special two-part episode previewing the forthcoming hearings of House Select Committee on January 6, John Heilemann talks with Denver Riggleman, former Republican congressman from Virginia, and, until recently, 1/6 committee staffer. Heilemann and Riggleman discuss the staggering scope of what the committee has learned since its inception (including the explosive text messages to and from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, which Riggleman helped uncover) about the involvement of Donald Trump and his inner circle in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election; how the story of the pressures placed on Mike Pence to prevent Joe Biden from taking office will be among the key facets of the hearings; and Riggleman’s assessment of the case for bringing criminal charges against Trump for his role in the 1/6 insurrection. They also discuss the part Q-Anon played in ending Riggleman's career in Congress, the centrality of conspiracy theories to the identity of today's GOP, and strange tale of how Riggleman's interest in Bigfoot became part of his public profile.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, John Hyalman here and welcome to part two of this very special two part
0:18.8	episode of Hell and I Water with former Virginia Congressman and Republican Stafford on the
0:22.6	16th Committee, Denver Riggleman.
0:24.9	In part one of the podcasts we did a preview of the hearings that are kicking off in prime
0:28.7	time this week, those start on Thursday night June the 9th at 8 p.m. Eastern.
0:33.7	We talked about the key way in which the story of Mark Meadows will figure in these hearings.
0:38.2	We talk about the pressure campaign on Mike Pence and the role that will play in making
0:42.6	the public case about a conspiracy to try to subvert a free and fair election in 2020.
0:49.2	And of course about the question of Donald Trump's criminal liability for the insurrection.
0:53.9	If you haven't listened to part one of this two part episode with Denver Riggleman yet,
0:57.4	I want you to hit pause right now and go back and check out part one.
1:01.5	And then only then come back here for part two.
1:04.8	And here us have a really fascinating discussion with Denver about his brief but eventful
1:08.9	political career, his run-ins with and denunciations of QAnon, one of the first people out there
1:14.2	to see how important and absolutely horrific the role of QAnon has been in our politics.
1:20.4	Denver talks about the role of conspiracy theorizing and far right radicalism in today's
1:24.0	GOP.
1:25.0	So we also talk about the strange, I mean really strange, like Bizarro, and also confounding
1:30.7	and upsetting, especially for Denver, part that Bigfoot.
1:33.9	Yes, I'm talking about Sasquatch, Bigfoot himself.
1:37.2	Itself?
1:38.2	I don't know.
	...

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