Capitol insurrection: Missouri paper calls on Senate to investigate Josh Hawley's possible Jan. 6 involvement

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley became one of the faces of the Capitol insurrection on January 6. As the House Committee’s investigation is underway, a local news outlet in Missouri is calling for the Senate to investigate Hawley’s possible ties to the January 6 riots.

The editorial board of the St. Louis Dispatch called on the Senate Ethics Panel Sunday to investigate Hawley on any possible involvement he has with the January 6 insurrection. Hawley has been criticized by the news outlet several times but recently ramped up its criticism of Hawley, who infamously raised a fist to the Capitol insurrectionists prior to the riots. The editors also said that it is time for investigators to probe Hawley, as well as Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Both Hawley and Cruz are the two senators to publicly object to the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Coincidentally, both senators are now blocking the confirmation of Biden’s state department nominees.

“Ten months after a group of Senate Democrats lodged ethics complaints into the conduct of Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz of Texas regarding their roles in sparking the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the Senate Ethics Committee has shown no sign of movement,” said the editors.

“Jan. 6 wasn’t a fantasy; it was real, and the culpability of these two senators must be determined,” the board wrote.

“Hawley and Cruz were the only two senators to object to the certification of Joe Biden’s clear victory in the 2020 elections, citing (with zero evidence) supposed concerns about the election’s integrity. That was the same baseless, toxic nonsense then-President Donald Trump had been spewing since before the election. Such talk whipped up the mob of Trump loyalists to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6.”

Even after the insurrection, the editors noted that Hawley maintained to object to the certification.

In other related news, Democratic Rep. Pet Aguilar revealed that over 250 people had been grilled by the House committee probing the insurrection. Speaking with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, Aguilar cited that high-profile Trump officials like Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, and Jeffrey Clark are only a few people from the many that have come forward to testify.