It was during Congressional certification of Biden’s victory that a crowd of pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol, breaking through the walls of the building and temporarily interrupting proceedings. Lawmakers were forced to take shelter there when the two chambers were closed, and at least five people died as a result of the violence – including a Capitol police officer.
Just before the attack, former President Donald Trump spurred his supporters at a rally at the White House Ellipse, encouraging them to march on the Capitol with warm-blooded rhetoric. Trump was accused by the House two weeks ago for “inciting insurrection” – becoming the only president in American history to face twice a historic rebuke – and now he is due to be tried in the Senate early next month.
But Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans also directed their fury at colleagues who sought to reverse the election results in Congress, arguing that their actions and the refusal to acknowledge the reality of Biden’s victory played a role in provoking the deadly siege of the Capitol. Hawley and Cruz, in particular, received requests for resignation or expulsion from the Senate – potential punishments that Hawley alluded to in his letter on Monday.
“In light of the shameful abuse of the ethics process in which you deliberately became involved, I considered whether you should ask for your resignation or be expelled from the Senate,” Hawley wrote to the seven Democrats. “But I still believe in the First Amendment, which the US Supreme Court has said repeatedly that it protects even ‘offensive’ and malicious speech, like yours.”