Sen. Hawley of Missouri and Sen. Cruz from Texas are facing a probe from the Senate Ethics Committee, with questions around their conduct ahead of the Capitol riot and their opposition to the Electoral College results.

“I think at a minimum, at a minimum, they should be censured,” Casey told CNN.

“In the history of the United States Senate, there’s been just a handful of times where there’s been censures. And if you read the most recent ones from the last couple of decades, the censure frankly in those instances was for offences or infractions that were a lot less severe than I think both senators engaged in.

“At the bare minimum, there should be a censure of both those senators.”

Both Hawley and Cruz objected to Electoral College results when Congress convened on January 6 to certify the victory of President Joe Biden.

A group of Democratic senators said the pair had “amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country,” in a letter requesting the ethics probe.

Hawley has criticized the Democrats behind the ethics investigation, saying it was a “transparent attempt” to “to punish a political opponent for the entirely lawful representation of their constituents.” He called for a counter-probe into the lawmakers.

The Missouri senator, who was photographed saluting pro-Trump protesters with a raised fist hours before a mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, has rejected suggestions that he incited the violence that led to the deaths of five people. He said he was representing the views of constituents in calling for investigations into election integrity.

Cruz has made similar comments, saying he felt he was fulfilling his duty as a senator.

“What I was doing and what the other senators were doing is what we were elected to do, which is debating matters of great import in the chamber of the United States Senate,” he has said, according to television station KSDK.

The pair have also faced calls to resign, although have both pushed back against their critics.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies repeatedly claimed that November’s presidential election was tainted by widespread fraud. There is no evidence of such irregularities.

Newsweek has contacted the offices of Casey, Cruz and Hawley for comment.