FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Conference: Weaponization of the Federal Government Against Thomas A. Speciale II (CW3, U.S. Army Reserve) and Defamation of Mr. Speciale by the Democratic Party of Virginia and the Abigail Spanberger political campaign.
Press kit available at www.thomasspeciale.com (see Weaponization tab)
Time & Location: Richmond Hilton, 501 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia | 1:30–3:30 p.m. on September 12, 2025
[WOODBRIDGE, VA | September 2, 2025] — Thomas A. Speciale II—former U.S. Senate candidate for Virginia, 30-year career Army intelligence officer (CW3, U.S. Army Reserve), and senior U.S. intelligence professional—announces a press conference to address weaponization of federal agencies and the Department of Defense against him. According to Mr. Speciale, elements within the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense were weaponized against him from January 2021 to May 2025. Separately, the Democratic Party of Virginia and the political campaign of Rep. Abigail Spanberger—his own congressional representative at the time—defamed him in November 2022, a private citizen and constituent.
Mr. Speciale will take questions regarding these civil-rights violations and the conduct of the FBI, DOJ, and DOD directed at himself and others. He will also address his defamation lawsuit against the Democratic Party of Virginia and members of the Abigail Spanberger campaign.
In October 2020, while serving as Senior Intelligence Collection Strategist for Domestic Terrorism (DT) at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Mr. Speciale warned the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Task Force to consider potential “black swan” violence in the months leading up to the January 2021 presidential inauguration. He further opposed efforts within the FBI to advance a federal domestic terrorism statute that would contravene the U.S. Constitution.
Mr. Speciale states that after attending the January 6, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C., he was investigated by the FBI and the Department of Defense from January 2021 through June 2023. He maintains that the scrutiny was based solely on protected free speech and freedom of assembly and that, on January 5–6, 2021, he actively warned rally attendees against potential instigators and agitators seeking to provoke violence.
In 2022, Mr. Speciale was a voluntary witness to the January 6th Investigative Committee, wherein he provided documents and testimony which were destroyed by the previous committee and offered to the committee classified information which they refused to include in their investigation.
According to Mr. Speciale, in November 2022 the Spanberger campaign wrote and coordinated with the Democratic Party of Virginia the release of a press statement/article defaming him as part of a smear campaign aimed at Republican congressional candidate Yesli Vega, wherein Abigail Spanberger’s campaign routing publication of the defamatory article through the Democratic Party of Virginia to conceal the Spanberger campaign’s direct involvement.
Mr. Speciale will answer questions regarding his warnings, the alleged weaponization and its effects on him and his family, and the status of his defamation claims against the Democratic Party of Virginia and members of the Abigail Spanberger campaign during the September 12 press conference at the Richmond Hilton.
A press kit is available at www.thomasspeciale.com (see Weaponization tab). To register for the press conference or request additional information, please contact: tom.speciale@thomasspeciale.com.