Hawley was among the GOP lawmakers who most prominently questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election and pushed for Congress not to certify the results on January 6, 2021. A photo of the senator outside the Capitol, raising his fists in the air in a show of support to gathered supporters of Donald Trump, has since become synonymous with politicians backing the former president’s “Big Lie.”
In a piece published Friday, the editorial board of The Kansas City Star said that Hawley, and fellow Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, “owe good Republicans [the truth] about the lies of Jan. 6.”
“We all know what Josh Hawley was doing the day of the assault on the U.S. Capitol: Pumping his fist in solidarity with the gathering mob early in the afternoon,” the piece began. “Then sprinting away from the building as insurrectionists smashed through doors and windows, sending him and other lawmakers scrambling for safety. And finally, just hours later, returning to the Senate floor to play to the cameras as the face of the theatrical, futile attempt to overturn the election Donald Trump had just lost.”
The piece continued, calling out Hawley for being unapologetic about his role on January 6, as well as for numerous other transgressions, including continuing “to echo right-wing attacks on the FBI, while brazenly violating U.S. copyright law by selling mugs and T-shirts stealing photojournalist Francis Chung’s iconic picture of his salute to the mob.”
It also highlighted the numerous calls that Hawley appeared to make to the Trump White House on the morning of January 6, 2021, wondering what he knew about the planning of the attempted insurrection.
“But for the good of the nation—and for their own chance at rehabilitation, not to mention their consciences—Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall should come clean about one thing: They should apologize to every honest Republican voter for not telling them the truth about the leader of their party,” the piece stated. “That he lied to them directly about subjects big and small throughout his presidency, and that they defended and deflected those lies for short-sighted political advantage.”
Meanwhile, in its own piece from Friday, the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch took a broader view of the reverberations still being felt from the Capitol riot, while also making a point to decry Hawley’s “shamefully prominent role” in the event.
Newsweek reached out to Hawley’s office for comment.
