Show-Me State Times

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) questioned why Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was choosing to challenge the Electoral College vote during a conference call Thursday.

Hawley, however, was unable to be on the conference call at that time, which several lawmakers were frustrated with, saying that he should have known there would be questions about his decision to challenge the vote. 

Hawley said in an email to fellow senators that he was unable to join the conference call, but that he still wanted to share his reasoning for choosing to back the challenge to the vote. 

“If you’ve been speaking to folks at home, I’m sure you know how deeply angry and disillusioned many, many people are — and how frustrated that Congress has taken little or no action,” Hawley wrote. “I want to thank Ron Johnson for holding a hearing on election irregularities. I strongly believe there should be a full fledged congressional investigation and also a slate of election integrity legislation.”

Hawley said he intended to object to the certification process in order to force the issues to the forefront and show the unprecedented failure in states like Pennsylvania in not following their own laws.

“As I said in my statement yesterday, our Democrat colleagues have used the certification process in recent years to raise issues of election integrity,” Hawley wrote. “I strongly believe it is entirely appropriate for those of us concerned about the integrity of this last election to do the same.”

Hawley said in a previous statement that he couldn’t certify the vote without bringing to light key issues with the vote.

“Following both the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in Congress objected during the certification of electoral votes in order to raise concerns about election integrity,” he said in his previous statement. “They were praised by Democratic leadership and the media when they did. And they were entitled to do so. But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this election are entitled to do the same.”

Hawley said he would follow the same practice that Democrats did in previous years.

“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on Jan. 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws,” Hawley said. “And I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden.”

Hawley said at the very least, lawmakers should be investigating the allegations of voter fraud and to adopt measures for securing election integrity.

President Donald Trump tweeted about Hawley when he said he would challenge the vote.

“America is proud of Josh and the many others who are joining him. The USA cannot have fraudulent elections!” Trump tweeted.