Virginia Deputy AG Says She Was Forced Out, Denies Resignation Claims By Miyares’ Office And Washington Post
Monique Miles, who until recently was deputy attorney general for Virginia, told The Federalist that claims by The Washington Post and the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares that she resigned on Thursday over a Facebook post she made on Jan. 6, 2021, are false.
“My understanding was, this is not something that’s voluntary,” Miles said.
On Thursday, The Washington Post published a hit piece about Miles and reported that she had resigned after the Post “questioned the [attorney general’s] office about Facebook posts she had made.” The Post quoted Victoria LaCivita, communications director for Miyares’ office, saying, “Ms. Miles has resigned from her position at the Office of the Attorney General.”
The social media posts in question that the Post dug up and presented to Miyares’ office included a post from Jan. 6 in which Miles said, “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.” As the Post noted, Miles later edited her comments.
“I revised my comments on the Jan. 6 post as I found out more about the developing news,” Miles explained to The Federalist. “I didn’t go to the Capitol, so I have no firsthand knowledge of what went down there. … I think there is a right to peacefully protest as part of the First Amendment and a right to engage in civil discourse. At no time did I condone lawlessness, violence, and insurrection.”
Miles also told The Federalist she never resigned and was instead forced out. “They said this was a heartbreaking decision for them and they saw no other option than to ask for my resignation to avoid controversy. They said I could take the rest of the day off to process and then come back and get my things from the office after hours the next day … and then I found out that they reported to the media that I had resigned.”
“At no time did I submit my resignation, I merely went home to process,” she emphasized. “I was even asked to surrender my badge, ID, and computer, which shows that I was being shown the door. Later that evening, I was called and asked to give my response of whether I was resigning. I said I need more time to process and that’s when I was informed that I was officially terminated.”
Miles said she respects Miyares and the agenda he’s pursuing, adding, “I recognize how hard it is for some leaders to defend their people. This just wasn’t a fight that the AG’s office wanted to wage, but I am here waging that fight against the left’s cancel culture myself.”
“The left will die on their swords to protect their people,” she said. “But where are the folks on the right who protect their people?”
Miles also criticized the Post’s account, which, she noted, went so far as to quote her high school teacher. “The investigation that [the Post’s Justin Jouvenal] did was something that was a whole ‘nother level — it shows what a threat they see me as as a female black conservative civil rights lawyer,” Miles said. “They don’t want us conservative black females to have an opinion, they just want us to shut up and disappear.”
In a statement to Newsmax, Miyares’ office said, “Ms. Miles surrendered her state government ID and equipment before leaving the premises after a conversation with our Chief Deputy Attorney General. It is our understanding that she resigned at that time.”
“Nevertheless, the Office of Attorney General has parted ways with Ms. Miles for lack of transparency during her initial interviews for the position,” the statement continued. “We appreciate her service and wish her well in the future.”
Communications Director Victoria LaCivita provided a similar statement to The Federalist, saying “Our office has parted ways with Ms. Miles. We appreciate her service and we wish her well in her future endeavors.”
Miles also denied the claim that she failed to be transparent in her interviews. “In the interview process I was never asked any questions about Jan. 6 or whether I thought the election was valid,” she explained. “The one question that was asked in the job application that I filled out online was whether they should be aware of any controversy. And at that time a lot of good freedom-loving Americans were asking questions about the election and commenting on what happened on Jan. 6, so I didn’t see that as controversial.”
“There needs to be accountability for people who want to shut off civil discourse by engaging in ad hominem attacks,” Miles added, noting that Democrats such as former Vice President Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and other opponents of Trump in 2016 have questioned election results in the past. “Yet when the candidate I supported in the election didn’t win and I made statements questioning the outcome of the election and supporting my candidate,” she said, “the left labeled me as a conspiracy theorist, which I’m not. “
“We should all be able to ask questions and engage in civil discourse with each other as citizens of this democratic republic without people lobbing ad hominem attacks to shut down the discussion for fear of an alternate narrative gaining popularity or facts being disclosed,” Miles added. “Stifling others’ views and ideas is a threat to our democracy.”
Elle Reynolds is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. You can follow her work on Twitter at @_etreynolds.
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