Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) made an inadvertent comic cameo at the committee’s primetime Jan. 6 hearing Thursday night, when Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) explained what supporters were up to most loyal to Donald Trump’s Congress during the Capitol uprising. .
“Senator Josh Hawley also had to flee,” Luria said. “This afternoon, before the joint session began, he crossed the east front of the Capitol.”
“As you can see in this photo, he raised his fist in solidarity with the protesters who were already gathering at the security gates,” he added, showing the iconic photo of Hawley on the morning of January 6. “We spoke with a Capitol Police officer who was out there at the time. She told us that Sen. Hawley’s gesture irritated the crowd and made them very upset because he was doing it in a safe space, protected by officers and barriers “.
Then came the twist. “Later that day, Senator Hawley fled after the protesters he helped enrage stormed the Capitol,” Luria said, before adding, “See for yourself.”
With that, the committee room was treated to slow-motion security camera footage of Hawley running across the screen to evade the rioters who had violently entered their safe space.
Several reporters reported that Hawley’s video was met with “loud laughter” from those watching inside the courtroom. “It was a much-needed moment of levity in a room that was increasingly (understandably) tense and dark,” tweeted MSNBC’s Ali Vitali.
“Think about what we’ve seen,” Luria concluded. “Undeniable violence in the Capitol, the vice president was evacuated to safety by the Secret Service, senators running through the senate corridors to get away from the crowd. As commander in chief, President Trump had an oath and a duty to protect the Capitol.”
But as we now know from Thursday’s testimony, he actively chose not to.