Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) received a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after he mentioned his objection to the confirmation of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6.
“On January the 6th, I objected during the Electoral College certification. Maybe you heard about it,” Hawley said during his speech on Friday as attendees stood to applaud him.
He continued, “I stood up and I said we ought to have a debate about election integrity.”
Watch the video below:
Hawley gets a standing ovation after he brings up his January 6 vote to overthrow a free and fair election and Joe Biden won pic.twitter.com/55rsSGBZNs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 26, 2021
He accused the “radical left” of trying to “cancel me, censor me, expel me, shut me down, stop me from representing the people of Missouri, stop me from representing you.”
Hawley continued, “Guess what. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not backing down. Not a chance, not a chance and neither are you am I right?”
Last month Hawley said his goal was never “to overturn the election,” as IJR reported.
“That was never the point and it was never possible,” he said during an interview with St. Louis radio station KMOX.
He added, “I think we need to have a debate about election integrity. I think this is the right forum to do it in. This was never about overturning an election, but it is about Congress exercising its oversight capacity. It is about shining a light on what some of these states did.”
Hawley also previously defended Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), “It is a lie that I was trying to overturn an election or that Ted Cruz was trying to overturn an election. It is a lie that I incited violence.”
He was asked by a reporter on Tuesday what he would say to those who believe he was complicit in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, as IJR reported.
“That’s outrageous. I would say it’s absolutely outrageous and an utter lie,” Hawley replied. “And no one, I think, who knows any of the facts alleges any such thing.”