Republican Virginia Rep. Denver Riggleman said Friday that his party was “desperate” and fearful of what might happen if they did not support President Donald Trump.
Riggleman, who lost the 2020 Republican primary to Bob Good, made an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” to discuss the state of his party as he prepared to leave the House of Representatives.
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Host John Berman noted that Riggleman was one of the few Republicans who had accepted President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, and went on to ask about the 106 members of Congress who had signed on to support challenges to the election’s results. (RELATED: REP. RIGGLEMAN: Killing Soleimani Made Us All Safer — Take It From This Veteran)
“These members know better. You can’t sit here and tell me that you don’t think that these 106 members of Congress don’t know better, can you?” Berman asked.
“I can’t. I don’t know how to defend this,” Riggleman replied, adding that he had predicted that a lot of Republicans would support such challenges.
“But I asked one of the individuals who signed on. And he said, ‘I’m not saying that this is going on. I just think we need more information.’ And my thing is, how much more information do we need? What is it, 1 in 50 or 1 in 51 for lawsuits?” Riggleman continued. “I think at this point the one loss record is not very good.”
“Let’s play mad libs here. The Republican Party this morning is blank. Fill in the blank?” Berman shifted gears.
“Oh, goodness, a one-worder. Is that what you’re asking for?” Riggleman asked.
“I’ll give you up to ten,” Berman conceded.
“Thank you for that. I think the Republican Party this morning is desperate,” Riggleman replied. “I also believe that the Republican Party is in fear and I think it’s in fear of what’s going to happen to them if they don’t go along with the agenda that’s going to be set by the president right now.”
Riggleman concluded by saying that he believed political pressure was making people who might normally make “common sense decisions” say and do things that were not rational.
“Here’s what I want to tell people. COVID is real, the kraken is not. It’s that simple,” he said. “And that’s why I’ve been so outspoken, as you started with the clip of me speaking yesterday about conspiracy theories.”