United States Senate
WASHINGTON, DC 20510
January 21, 2021
The Honorable Christopher Coons, Chairman
The Honorable James Lankford, Vice Chairman
Senate Committee on Ethics
220 Hart Building
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
RE: Investigation Request for Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley
Dear Chairman Coons and Vice Chairman Lankford,
When Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley announced they would object to the counting of state-certified electors on January 6, 2021, they amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country. While Congress was debating Senator Cruz’s objection, a violent mob stormed the Capitol. These insurrectionists ransacked the building, stole property, and openly threatened Members of Congress and the Vice President.[1] Dozens of police officers were injured;[2] five people died, including U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.[3] By proceeding with their objections to the electors after the violent attack, Senators Cruz and Hawley lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause and made future violence more likely.
Senators Hawley and Cruz’s actions have been denounced by individuals across the political spectrum. The Senate has the exclusive power to determine whether these actions violated its ethics rules, to investigate further conduct of which we may not be aware that may have violated these rules, and to consider appropriate discipline. The question the Senate must answer is not whether Senators Hawley and Cruz had the right to the object to the electors, but whether the senators failed to “[p]ut loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department”[4] or engaged in “improper conduct reflecting on the Senate”[5] in connection with the violence on January 6. The Senate Ethics Committee should
- ↑ See, e.g., Matthew S. Schwartz, As Inauguration Nears, Concern Of More Violence Grows, NPR (Jan. 9, 2021), https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/09/955289141/as-inauguration-nears-concern-grows-of-more-violence-to-come.
- ↑ Peter Hermann & Julie Zauzmer, Beaten, sprayed with mace and hit with stun guns: police describe injuries to dozens of officers during assault on U.S. Capitol, Wash. Post (Jan. 11, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-capitol-injuires-trump/2021/01/11/ca68e3e2-5438-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html.
- ↑ Schwartz, supra note 1.
- ↑ Code of Ethics for Government Service, H. Con. Res. 175, 85th Cong. (2d Sess. 1958).
- ↑ Senate Ethics Manual 432 (108th Cong. 2003 ed.).
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