Watch Josh Hawley Run From January 6 Rioters He Cheered On

A photograph of Senator Josh Hawley pumping his fist toward the rioters is shown during a hearing on July 21, 2022. Photo: Getty Images

As House January 6 committee is holding public hearings primarily to expose Donald Trump’s “sophisticated seven-point plan” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as Vice-Chair Liz Cheney reiterated on Thursday night. But the committee clearly has another unstated mission: to humiliate hypocritical Republican lawmakers and former Trump administration officials.

The January 6 committee dragged Senator Josh Hawley in exquisite fashion during its eighth hearing. First, the panel reminded viewers of the Missouri Republican’s famous gesture on January 6, 2021, in which he raised a fist to show solidarity with the protesters gathering at the gates to the Capitol. (Hawley later sold a $20 mug featuring the photo, which he insisted was “not a pro-riot mug.”) Committee member Elaine Luria said a Capitol police officer on the scene testified that the gesture “riled up the crowd, and it bothered her greatly because he was doing it in a safe space protected by the officers and the barriers.”

“Later that day, Senator Hawley fled after those protesters he helped to rile up stormed the Capitol,” Luria continued. The committee then aired previously unseen security footage of Hawley bolting through the hallways of the Capitol Building, showing part of it a second time in slow motion.

People in the room seemed to thoroughly enjoy the clip.

Former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten by the January 6 mob and suffered a heart attack during the insurrection, confirmed that there was an “eruption of laughter” in the hearing room, and called Hawley a “clown,” among other things.

Naturally, the internet is now teeming with Hawley running memes.

Surely it’s only a matter of time before someone slaps this iconic Josh Hawley moment onto an overpriced “pro-fleeing” mug.

This post has been updated throughout.