Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are being forced to face a “secretive” Senate ethics panel over their alleged (but non-existent) role in the siege of the U.S. Capitol building earlier this month.
From the Daily Wire:
The Senate Ethics Committee, which Politico describes as “one of the most secretive committees in Congress” will review the cases against both Hawley and Cruz after several leading Democrats made an official ethics complaint to committee head, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) on January 21st.
The group complained that “[w]hile Congress was debating Senator Cruz’s objection [to certifying specific electors], a violent mob stormed the Capitol. These insurrectionists ransacked the building, stole property, and openly threatened Members of Congress and the Vice President”
The complaint seems to suggest that Hawley and Cruz had a direct role in the siege of the Capitol, despite them following a legal process to object to election certification while likely having no idea what was going on outside:
Although it does not appear either Cruz or Hawley made reference to the attacks, nor that either had prior knowledge of plans to storm the United States Capitol and disrupt the Senate’s business, the seven complainants, including Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Sen. Dick Blumenthal (D-MA), claim that by merely “proceeding with their objections to the electors after the violent attack, Senators Cruz and Hawley lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause and made future violence more likely.”
Cruz and Hawley were hardly the first lawmakers to object to election certification under current federal law, as Democrats have also used the procedure to object to Republican victories in multiple elections.
One such case saw former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer join Rep. Stephanie Jones in objecting to former President George W. Bush’s Ohio victory in 2004, forcing the joint session of Congress to split up to debate the objection in an identical fashion to this year’s proceedings.
More recently, House Democrats in 2016 objected to more states that Donald Trump won than Republicans objected to after this year’s Biden victory.
Nevertheless, some Democrats are now calling for there to be a full investigation into Hawley in Cruz, because they’ll never let a chance to play politics go to waste.
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