WASHINGTON — After repeated requests for an interview, Sen. Josh Hawley spoke with 5 On Your Side anchor Mike Bush Thursday afternoon.
Below is a full transcript of the five-minute interview.
Mike Bush: Hi, Senator. How are you?
Sen. Hawley: Good, how are you doing?
Bush: OK, thank you for doing this.
Hawley: Of course.
Bush: Are we rolling?
Hawley: Yes, sir.
Bush: OK, so let me just begin by asking you: did Joe Biden win a free and fair election?
Hawley: Yeah, well, he is, he is the duly elected president of the United States. And as of January, the night of January 6, when the votes were counted and certified by the United States Congress or in front of the United States Congress, he was the president-elect, as of that date, officially as the Constitution provides.
And he is now the duly elected president of the United States. And, you know, we're going to disagree on a lot of things. I've been saying that I view my role as sort of the loyal opposition. And I've already got major concerns, major concerns about what his administration is doing. But he is the duly elected president.
Bush: So, so let me ask you you've said in recent interviews that you're intent by objecting to the Electoral College results, was never to overturn the election. But why then when you were asked Fox News, were you trying to say that as of January 20th, President Trump will be president? Your response was, that depends on what happened on Wednesday. Isn't that kind of an indication that you thought the result may be in doubt?
Hawley: No. And in fact, I think that was not what I was asked. I was asked whether or not I would say that Joe Biden was president or was the president-elect or is going to be president. I was asked in that same interview what my intentions were, and I answered that question the way that I have every single time, which is my intentions, are to represent the views of the people of my state and to try to force a debate on election integrity, which is why I objected to only the State of Pennsylvania. And I did so because the State of Pennsylvania didn't follow its own state constitution with its universal mail-in balloting law.
It passed a law and then used a mail-in balloting scheme that its own constitution forbids. And then the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court made it worse by changing the mail-in balloting statute. And when you could return the ballots in the middle of the process and allowing people to return absentee ballots up to three days after the election.
But let me just put a fine point on this. Democrats have objected to specific states in the Electoral College count in 2001, 2005 and 2017. And to say that Republicans doing what they did as the law specifically allows for is somehow akin to violence or inciting violence or a seditious is simply false. It is a lie. And I, for one, am not going to acquiesce to it.
Bush: So let me ask you this. We were on the scene today of an FBI raid in St. Louis where another Missourian is expected to be charged in connection with the Capitol riots. What do you have to say to your constituents who were involved in the insurrection?
Hawley: Oh, well, listen, as I have said all this last year, we saw rioting all across this country in different cities, including, unfortunately, in St. Louis. If you break the law, you should go to prison. I mean, period. I don't care why it is, either. I don't care what the excuse is. I don't care what the rationale is.
Criminals, criminal rioters, looters, vandals, people who attack cops, they're going to jail and they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. And again, it doesn't matter whether it happens in Portland or Seattle or St. Louis or Washington or wherever. And it doesn't matter what your political motivations are. If you break the law, you're going to prison. So I can I have consistently condemned any kind of violence, any kind of criminal rioting. And that absolutely goes for those criminals who did that on January 6th.
Bush: Former Senator Danforth, as you know, has said that supporting you was the biggest mistake he ever made politically. What did you think when you heard that and have you talked to him?
Hawley: You know, I will just say this, that the establishment I did not go to Washington, D.C. in order to represent the establishment or to please them, I went to represent the people of Missouri. That's exactly what I have been doing. And I am singularly focused on that.
Bush: Do you regret anything that you did, even if you think it was misinterpreted leading up to the January 6th insurrection?
Hawley: No, I was very clear about what I was doing and why I was doing it. I think it is absolutely vital that we preserve the ability to have a democratic debate and address the concerns of our constituents, the people of Missouri, in my case, on the floor of the United States Senate, and they be able to be heard.
And I think it is dangerous to say that an open, democratic, lawful debate on the floor of the Senate is akin to violence or is inciting violence. That is absolutely false and it is dangerously false. And so I think that it is a lie that the left is telling that I, for one, am not going to go along with. I think it's vital to be clear on that. At the same time, we've got to condemn violence. The whole reason we have Democratic debate is so that there isn't violence and those who would not respect our laws have got to go to prison and be punished.
Hawley staffer: Senator, we are out of time. We can go and say goodbye to Mike.
Hawley: OK, thank you, Mike.
Bush: OK, thank you, Senator. Talk to you soon.