Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will be investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee over their objections to the electoral results of the 2020 election, according to Politico.
The two Republican senators were the most vocal advocates for challenging the results of the electoral college, after widespread evidence and allegations of voter fraud in key swing states that may have swung the election away from President Donald Trump and in favor of Joe Biden. The investigation comes after seven Democrats in the Senate filed complaints against Hawley and Cruz; chief among them was Chris Coons (D-Del.), who is the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, who called for both senators to resign.
The ranking Republican on the committee is James Lankford (R-Okla.), who said that no statements or leaks will be made regarding the investigation until it is concluded, saying “we don’t bring up anything on the ethics stuff at all. We don’t confirm anything and we’re pretty lockstop about that.”
A spokesperson for Cruz’s office condemned the investigation, declaring that “it sets a dangerous precedent when ethics complaints are used as a political tool to try to intimidate and punish.”
The last time the Senate Ethics Committee conducted an investigation of any kind was in 2017, against then-Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), who was credibly accused of sexual misconduct in the past and ultimately resigned from the Senate. The committee previously failed to take any action against Senator Bob Menendez (R-N.J.), despite overwhelming evidence of corruption and bribery between Menendez and one of his top donors.
Most Republicans in the Senate have indicated that they do not support the ethics investigations into Hawley and Cruz, even though some of them oppose their decisions to object to the electoral results.
While objecting to an election’s results is a constitutionally-guaranteed right for members of Congress, Democrats have claimed, with no evidence, that Hawley, Cruz, and other Republicans actively provoked the mostly peaceful crowd of pro-Trump protesters who entered the Capitol on January 6th. Hawley and Cruz in particular, alongside President Trump, have been falsely accused of “inciting insurrection” following the protests, where one Trump supporter was murdered by a Metro PD officer.