Josh Hawley Reportedly Ignoring Trump Impeachment Trial After Stunt to Delegitimize the 2020 Election

Multiple news outlets reported that Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is making a point of ignoring Donald Trump’s second impeachment after he previously carried the former president’s false claims behind the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

MSNBC’s Garrett Haake spoke to Nicolle Wallace during a break in the Senate trial, and noted how some people in the chamber were publicly disengaged while Democrats made their case against Trump for incitement of insurrection. He called out Hawley by name as he noted that the senator was physically distanced from the activity in the Senate.

“All the senators have the option to use the gallery, the upstairs area, for seating for social distancing,” Haake said. “Josh Hawley is the only one taking advantage of that opportunity. He’s been sitting with his legs up on the seat in front of him, essentially reading, non-related material. In the 20 minutes or so I was in the chamber just now, I didn’t see him look down at all really to engage with any of the conversation that was going on on the floor.”

Haake’s reporting was corroborated by CNN’s Abby Phillip and Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic, who suggested that Hawley was disengaged from what was happening.

Hawley is the only senator sitting alone in the gallery. He spent most of the presentation with his legs crossed reading paper from a manilla envelope. He did look up and watched as Neguse showed criminal complaints from the rioters charged by DOJ

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 10, 2021

Hawley spoke to reporters later, however, claiming he was paying attention and chose to sit in the gallery to enhance his observation of the proceedings.

Sen. Josh Hawley insisted to me he was paying attention when sitting in the upstairs gallery and while reading a stack of documents from his manilla folder. He said he was reading legal briefs in the case. He's the lone senator sitting in the upstairs gallery.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 10, 2021

Sen. Josh Hawley on why he's sitting in the gallery & not on the Senate floor: "It's a better viewpoint because I can look right at the impeachment managers and see them in the face. When I'm sitting in the chamber, I kinda look at the back of their head."

— Jason Donner (@jason_donner) February 10, 2021

Hawley joined his fellow GOPers in their unsuccessful attempt to pronounce the trial unconstitutional, and his conduct remains under the political microscope due to his connection to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

On Jan. 6th, Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) mounted objections in the Senate in a doomed attempt to block Congress from certifying Trump’s defeat in the Electoral College. This occurred hours after a mob of Trump’s supporters — fueled by the president’s false claims that the election was stolen — invaded the Capitol in order to violently overturn the 2020 results.

Hawley was prominently seen giving a fist-pumping salute to the Trump supporters who would end up invading the Capitol hours later. He has come under major public criticism since then from those who argue he helped foment the insurrection by giving credibility to the unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was corrupted by mass voter fraud.

Watch above, via MSNBC