Dem Sen. Hirono Suggests ‘Expulsion’ for Hawley, Cruz if There’s Evidence of Involvement in Capitol Riot

During a Friday interview with CNN’s “New Day,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) discussed the call for an ethics investigation into Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) and their roles in the riot at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

Hirono, who joined six other Democratic senators in calling for the investigation, said Hawley and Cruz “were very proud of the leadership role” they took in leading the Electoral College vote challenge.

“We’re asking the ethics committee of the Senate to investigate their role in attempting to overturn the results of a free and fair election,” Hirono outlined.” In fact, going into the January 6 count, they were very proud of the leadership role they were taking in trying to overturn the free and fair results. So now, we’re asking for an investigation into improper conduct by these two senators leading to the insurrection in the Capitol and five people dying and many people injured.”

Hirono went on to suggest if there is evidence the two senators were involved in the “insurrection” at the Capitol, then they should be facing “expulsion.”

“You have to look at the totality of the circumstances,” she stated. “It’s not as though these two senators decided, well, we’re going to challenge the vote count. No, it’s a totality of the circumstances of months of the president calling the election results in question, putting forth the big lie. … And these two senators were very much in concert with the president in pushing this big lie, frankly, leading to the insurrection and all of the terrible things that happened on January 6.”

“If the ethics commission determines that there is evidence that should lead to some kind of consequences, then that’s the recommendation they will make, including expulsion. These two senators have been called on to resign by a number of senators, as well as people in their own community, as well as newspapers in their states. But apparently, they’re not about to resign because they’re very proud of their role going into January 6, and they continue to raise money off their posture. It’s very clear they were doing this for … their own political interests.”

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