Page:Investigation Request for Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.pdf/2

 investigate their conduct to fully understand their role. The actions of which we know demand an investigation and a determination whether disciplinary action is warranted. Until then, a cloud of uncertainty will hang over them and over this body.

Senators Cruz and Hawley’s objections on January 6 were part of an ongoing effort by President Trump and his allies to obstruct the counting of electoral votes that would confirm his defeat. The President filed dozens of meritless lawsuits; made direct threats to state and local officials; and issued false public statements alleging election fraud. President Trump’s efforts culminated in an attempt to convince Congressional allies and Vice President Pence to reject groundlessly the electors from six states when Congress met to count the Electoral College votes on January 6. Senators Cruz and Hawley became leaders of that effort.

At the time the senators announced their support for President Trump’s scheme, his rhetoric had already incited threats of violence. By early December, President Trump’s false fraud claims had provoked numerous threats against state and local election officials and employees of voting machine companies. On December 1, 2020, Gabriel Sterling, a Republican election official at the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, stated that the false claims of election fraud by President Trump were “inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.” He called on the President, as well as Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, to “step up” and “condemn” these threats. Instead, President Trump continued to repeat the baseless claims. He called on