The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one of the leading newspapers in Missouri, rebuked Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Hawley was the first senator to announce that he will object to the certification of election results in Congress on Jan. 6. In an infamous photo before the riot, Hawley was seen raising his fist to a crowd of Donald Trump supporters as he made his way into the Capitol.
Hours later, the crowd pushed past barricades and joined the mob storming the Capitol building. Security footage shows Hawley fleeing the mob.
The editorial board of the St. Louis Post Dispatch criticized Hawley for his actions on the three year anniversary of the riot and blamed him for legitimizing Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
“Trump’s gaseous lies might have merely dissipated into the atmosphere had it not been for Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the first senator to object to ballot results,” the editorial board writes. “That damnable, self-serving stunt is what made it necessary for Congress that day to debate the undebatable legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory — thus providing a time-and-place target for the MAGA madness of Jan. 6.”
“Trump’s culpability is clear, but he isn’t alone,” the editorial board added. “Scores of Republicans in both houses of Congress — most of whom are still there — joined Hawley in his attempt to disenfranchise millions of Americans by blocking certification valid election results. Later, most House Republicans refused to join the successful impeachment vote against Trump, then the Republican-controlled Senate refused to convict.”
In the three years since the Capitol riot, more than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes ranging from misdemeanor offenses to felonies including assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy, according to the Associated Press.
Trump himself has been charged for his actions leading up to and on the day of the riot. He insists he did nothing wrong and appears to be on a clear path to securing the GOP nomination for president in 2024.
As the former president looks more likely to secure the GOP nomination, several Republican lawmakers who criticized him after the Jan. 6 riot have now endorsed him, even as he continues to spread lies about the 2020 election and the riot.
On Friday, Trump falsely claim that FBI and Antifa were “leading the charge” in the insurrection.
“By the way, there was Antifa, there was FBI, there were a lot of other people there too leading the charge. You saw the same people that I did,” Trump said at a rally in Sioux, Center, Iowa on the eve of the three year anniversary of the attack.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has debunked claims of the agency’s involvement in the Capitol attack. As recently as November, he told Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), “if you are asking whether the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and/or agents, the answer is emphatically no.”
