McConnell called Hawley out over objecting to Electoral College vote during conference call Hawley wasn’t on
A second source familiar with the call told CNN that McConnell made it clear to his members on Thursday that he is giving them room to vote their conscience on such objections.
The conference call discussion comes after McConnell has discouraged members from objecting in the first place. But now that Hawley made clear he is going ahead, members will have to decide for themselves whether to agree to the certification of a state’s electors or not. There are 19 Republican senators who are facing reelection in 2022. Republicans have to defend 21 seats.
When Hawley did not speak on the call, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a retiring Republican, explained to the conference why he believed that the state was not a good test case for election fraud allegations, according to the second source familiar with the call.
That source added that Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson also spoke on the call about the importance of investigating any election fraud, but as he has said publicly, he does not plan to object to the electoral college certification process.
The Thursday morning call was an all-member event, which McConnell has held fairly regularly given Covid-19 and scheduling disruptions, according to two people with direct knowledge of what took place. They said that the purpose of the call wasn’t explicitly Hawley’s decision to object, but McConnell asked him for his rationale multiple times before realizing he wasn’t on.
McConnell’s move came amid growing frustration inside the conference about Hawley’s move, especially among those up for reelection in 2022. A few GOP senators expressed displeasure publicly on Wednesday, but more have raised their concerns directly with leadership, one of the two people said.
McConnell privately warned Republicans weeks ago that going down the path of objecting would put colleagues of having to vote against Trump, or against the clear winner of the election with no basis. Given Trump’s pull with the party, it would create an untenable position, particularly for those GOP senators soon to face reelection.
McConnell, on the call Thursday, was at least in part attempting to address the concerns raised to by members to leadership — and give other senators an opportunity to raise their concerns themselves — by calling Hawley out for an explanation.
“Pissed,” was how one GOP senator described much of the conference to CNN.
Hawley told reporters on Wednesday he had “alerted” leadership of what he planned to do, but said he hadn’t discussed it with his colleagues since everyone was out of town.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
