Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) is a normally soft-spoken and reserved member of the U.S. Senate, but he lit into Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for his “solidarity” with the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists and placing indefinite holds on appointees to the Departments of Defense and State.
Schatz began by accusing Hawley of jeopardizing the military readiness of the United States:
“So, what Senator Hawley wants is to go through his litany of criticisms of the Biden administration, and the truth is that every senator has that right without blocking the logistics guy from the Department of Defense. He could’ve brought his floor charts out here and given a withering speech about all of the things he thought went wrong.
“But he’s doing a very specific thing. He is damaging the Department of Defense. We have senior DoD leaders, we have the Armed Services Committee coming to us and saying, ‘I don’t know what to tell him, I don’t know how to satisfy him, but he is blocking the staffing of the senior leadership at the Department of Defense.'”
But Schatz was just getting warmed up, and he soon turned to Hawley’s complicity in what transpired on Jan. 6:
“And this comes from a guy who raised his fist in solidarity with the insurrectionists. And this comes from a guy who, before the Russian invasion, suggested that maybe it would be wise for Zelensky to make a few concessions about Ukraine and their willingness to join NATO. This comes from a guy who just about a month ago voted against Ukraine aid! He’s saying it’s going too slow. He voted ‘no’! He voted ‘no’ on Ukraine aid and now he has the gall to say it’s going too slow!”
The Hawaii Democrat ended his speech with this flourish:
“And coming from a person who exonerated Donald Trump for extorting Zelensky for withholding lethal aid? They withheld lethal aid until, unless Zelensky would release false smears against Joe Biden’s son. And then he voted to exonerate President Trump for this. And so spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians and with the free world because this man’s record is exactly the opposite.
“I yield the floor.”
Josh Hawley will forever be known by the image of his raised fist as he walked by a group of protesters just hours before the rioting began. He may have designs on being president one day, but his cowardly and traitorous actions have likely killed that dream.
