New security footage shows Republican senator Josh Hawley, who famously raised his fist to the January 6 protesters, running for his safety from those same protesters inside the Capitol.
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol played the footage on Thursday, prompting a flurry of online memes ridiculing Hawley for fleeing the exact people he had earlier encouraged.
Virginia Democrat Elaine Luria showed pictures of House members and senators leaving their chambers while presenting the committee’s case.
“Senator Josh Hawley also had to flee,” Luria said.
“Earlier that afternoon before the joint session [of Congress] started, he walked along the east front of the Capitol,” she explained. “As you can see in this photo, he raised his fist in solidarity with protesters already amassing at the security gates.”
The committee showed the now famous photograph of Hawley raising his fist at the protestors.
“Later that day, Senator Hawley fled after those protesters he helped to rile up stormed the Capitol. See for yourself.”
The video shows Hawley trotting down a corridor and hurrying down a staircase next to an escalator.
The video was met with laughter within the committee room. Online the same lighthearted view was also taken, turning it instantly into a meme, and adding different soundtracks to the video.
Hawley was the first Republican senator to say he would object to results in key states won by Joe Biden in the presidential election in 2020, which Trump lost.
Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol to delay or destroy the certification process and the peaceful handover of power to Biden.
Luria said that the committee spoke with Capitol police officers who were on the scene on Jan. 6, and that Hawley’s raised fist riled up the crowd. Officers said it bothered them especially because he did so from a safe space that was protected by officers and barriers.
Since then, Hawley has gone to use the image for his own fundraising.
After the mob was cleared from the Capitol, Hawley was one of the 147 Republicans who objected to results in key states.
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