WASHINGTON — As abortion rights protests have spread across the country, targeting churches, anti-abortion clinics and the homes of senators and Supreme Court justices, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is equating them to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Hawley, a Missouri Republican who some blamed for the riot at the Capitol, is using the same language Democrats used to condemn him and former President Donald Trump, twisting it back to criticize President Joe Biden’s response to the protests.
“Biden is responsible for the firebombing of what happened in Wisconsin,” Hawley told reporters Tuesday. “These are his supporters who are doing the stuff. It’s not enough to issue mealy-mouthed statements and say, ‘oh, I wish it wouldn’t happen.’ Tell them to stop. These are his people. Tell them to stop.”
Hawley was referring to an incident in Madison, Wisconsin, where someone threw a Molotov cocktail into an anti-abortion clinic. According to the Madison Police Department, the Molotov cocktail did not ignite but someone set a fire, burning the building. No one was hurt.
Police are still investigating the arson and have not said whether the group responsible supported Biden.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Biden condemns violent protests.
“The president’s long-standing view has been that violence, threats, and intimidation of any kind have no place in political discourse,” Psaki said. “And we believe, of course, in peaceful protest.”
Amid reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, Republicans have kept their focus on the fact a draft of the decision leaked from the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the leak is an assault on the institution and painting it as a concerted effort to intimidate the nation’s highest court from the outside.
Hawley this week went a step farther, calling Democrats hypocrites for not condemning the abortion rights protests the same way they condemned the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, where scores of protesters who attended a rally where former President Donald Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen broke into the building and disrupted the certification of the election, forcing members of Congress to evacuate for their safety.
“The President of the United States refuses to tell his supporters to stand down and quit firebombing clinics, pro-life offices, to stop going and violating the law by threatening Supreme Court justices, which is a violation of Virginia law and federal law,” Hawley said. “It’s just sickening. It’s really sickening and they are gross hypocrites.”
The Biden administration quickly called pushed back on Hawley’s claim. Jesse Lee, a senior advisor for communications to the National Economic Council for the White House, tweeted a photograph of Hawley raising his fist to protesters on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Here’s what encouraging violence looks like, Senator,” Lee wrote. “Apologize any time.”
After overcoming the initial shock of the riot at the Capitol last year, Republicans swiftly moved to downplay the events of the day, lumping them in with other protests that turned violent.
Hawley, who was the first senator to say he would object to the certification of the election, has frequently condemned the violence on the day, which resulted in several deaths and the injuries of 150 U.S. Capitol police officers.
In his speech objecting to the certification of Pennsylvania’s ballots, Hawley thanked the Capitol police and said “violence is not how you achieve change,” arguing that the senate was the forum to raise concerns about the integrity of the election.
But last year he voted against a resolution honoring the staff of the Capitol who worked that day because it said the riot was perpetrated by violent insurrectionists.
His campaign is also selling merchandise — including camouflage beer koozies — printed with the photograph taken the morning of the insurrection of Hawley raising his fist to protesters with the words “Show Me Strong” at the bottom.
On the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin said he wanted to make it “unequivocally” clear that he was denouncing any violence that stemmed from protests.
“Violence is never acceptable, against Supreme Court justices, their families, their staff or anyone associated with that branch of government,” said Durbin, D-Ill. “Nor is violence acceptable on January 6, 2021, in this chamber when the insurrectionist mob, leaving a Trump rally, came here and tried to stop the business of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.”
Hawley said his support of a protest that turned violent was different because they were protesting at a federal building, compared to protesting at the justices’ homes.
“I don’t condone the violence, but I absolutely think people have a right to come to a public building and protest,” Hawley said. “That’s totally different than going to somebody’s home and trying to terrorize them and their families.”
Hawley has experienced protests at his home. Last January, after Hawley announced he would object to the certification of the 2020 presidential election, a group protested outside of his Virginia home while his wife and infant daughter were inside.
The protesters chanted outside, wrote in sidewalk chalk, and a small group walked up to the front door and knocked. Police in Vienna, Virginia, declined to bring charges against the people who protested outside Hawley’s home, calling it a minor event. The Hawleys brought criminal charges against the leader of the protest, but the charges were later dismissed.
Hawley sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to investigate the protests at the justices’ homes, pointing out a federal law that makes it illegal to protest at the home of a Supreme Court justice with the intent of influencing their vote. People who violate the law are subject to a fine and up to a year in prison.
While she didn’t call out Hawley by name in the White House press briefing Tuesday, Psaki was critical of Republicans expressing outrage at the protests at the justices’ homes, saying they have been peaceful.
“There are voices on the right who have called out this, protests that are happening, while remaining silent for years on protests that have happened outside of the homes of school board members, the Michigan secretary of state, or including threats made to women seeking reproductive health care, or even an insurrection against our Capitol,” Psaki said.
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