WASHINGTON — A Republican deputy attorney general in Virginia resigned from her position Thursday after Facebook posts surfaced showing she had applauded Jan. 6 rioters and falsely claimed that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
The Virginia attorney general's office became aware of these posts by Monique Miles Thursday when The Washington Post shared screenshots it obtained of her previous comments. Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason Miyares, told NBC News that Miles has resigned.
“This information was unknown to the Office of the Attorney General prior to this morning. Ms. Miles has resigned from her position at the Office of the Attorney General," LaCivita said.
Miles started her role as deputy attorney general of government transactions and operations last month after working at Old Towne Associates, a local law firm.
“The Attorney General has been very clear — Joe Biden won the election and he has condemned the January 6th attack," LaCivita added.
The Facebook posts in question aren't accessible to the public, but one screenshot obtained by the Post read: "News Flash: Patriots have stormed the Capitol. No surprise. The deep state has awoken the sleeping giant. Patriots are not taking this lying down. We are awake, ready and will fight for our rights by any means necessary."
Miles has been active on Twitter and while she didn't post anything on Jan. 6., the platform shows that she did "like" a tweet from that day in which a person suggested that the rioters were members of antifa disguised as Trump supporters. Government officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of their participation in the attack on the Capitol.
In the days following the riot, Miles retweeted a number of pro-Trump posts, including one shared a day before the House impeached Trump for inciting the attack.
"Can someone please post the part of President Trump's speech where he incited violence? I listened to the whole thing and can't seem to find it," read one post by conservative commentator Tomi Lahren, in reference to Trump's speech at the White House Ellipse.
Miles also retweeted posts about audits of the 2020 election and efforts to uncover evidence of voter fraud. The Post's report said that Miles had also posted articles on Facebook that supported baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
Miles did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
The Democratic Attorneys General Association, which supports about two dozen Democratic attorneys general, highlighted the Post's reporting in a statement.
“Jason Miyares needs to come clean: is he lying or incompetent?” said Geoff Burgan, the association's communications director. "This raises even more questions about Republican AGs’ dangerous embrace of debunked conspiracy theories."
