KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Senate Democrats have filed an ethics complaint against Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over their actions on the day of the Capitol insurrection, alleging their support for overturning election results even after a mob stormed the building set the stage for future violence.
Seven Democratic senators sent a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday, the day after the party took control of the chamber. The document, which recounts the two Republican senators’ actions on Jan. 6, calls for an investigation and says the committee, if warranted, should recommend either censure or expulsion — an extraordinarily rare step.
Hawley and Cruz led the failed attempt in the Senate to block certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in key states.
“While it was within Senators’ rights to object to the electors, the conduct of Senators Cruz and Hawley, and potentially others, went beyond that,” the complaint reads.
Hawley and Cruz knew their objections followed baseless claims of election fraud, the complaint says, adding that the allegations had led to threats of violence.
“Both senators persisted in their objections after those threats came to fruition,” the complaint reads. “Their actions lend credence to the insurrectionists’ cause and set the stage for future violence. And both senators used their objections for political fundraising.”
Hawley responded by accusing Democrats of “brazenly trying to silence dissent.”
“This latest effort is a flagrant abuse of the Senate ethics process and a flagrant attempt to exact partisan revenge. Democrats appear intent on weaponizing every tool at their disposal — including pushing an unconstitutional impeachment process — to further divide the country,” Hawley said in a statement. “Missourians will not be cancelled by these partisan attacks.”
The complaint is signed by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine — who graduated from the same Kansas City high school as Hawley — along with Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
The Ethics Committee Chairman, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, was one of the first Democratic senators to call on Hawley and Cruz to resign.
Missouri’s junior senator has faced enormous criticism since Jan. 6. His upcoming book was canceled by its publisher before Hawley found a new one. A Florida hotel is refusing to play host to a fundraiser Hawley planned to hold in February.
GOP donors David Humphreys and Sam Fox have also disavowed Hawley, and former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, an early mentor, has called supporting Hawley’s Senate campaign the worst mistake of his life.
“Their actions have been condemned by the public and rejected by members of their own party,” the senators wrote of Hawley and Cruz in their complaint. “As former Senator John Danforth argued, ‘Lending credence to Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen is a highly destructive attack on our constitutional government.’”
