Following President Biden’s inauguration and repeated calls for unity, Senate Democrats filed an ethics complaint against Republicans Sens. Josh Hawley (MI-R) and Ted Cruz (TX-R). The lawmakers argue that objections to the certification “lent legitimacy” to the violent mob who stormed the Capitol January 6.

Since the November 2020 election, republican Sens. Hawley and Cruz have spearheaded efforts to undermine President Joe Biden’s victory. Hawley was the first to announce his intention to object to the Senate’s certification of the Electoral College count, while Cruz led an effort by a group of Republican senators to refuse to count Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes. Despite denouncing the violence, the senators sustained their objections following the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. They have since been subjected to fierce backlash from both parties.

The letter sent to incoming Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Chris Coons (DE-D) and Vice Chairman James Lankford (OK-R) was spearheaded by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI-D). It asked for an investigation into the two members to “fully understand their role” in the attack on the Capitol. The Democratic Senators argued that Cruz and Hawley “made future violence more likely” and called for the committee to conduct an investigation into the two Republican senators and possibly consider “disciplinary action,” which could include the rare move of expulsion from the Senate. 

Whitehouse was joined by Sens. Ron Wyden (OR-D), Tina Smith (MN-D), Richard Blumenthal (CT-D), Mazie Hirono (HI-D), Tim Kaine (VA-D) and Sherrod Brown (OH-D).