GOP Sen. Tom Cotton not-so-subtly knocks Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for inspiring Capitol siege for 'political advantage'


Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), usually an ally of President Trump, is taking aim at his fellow Republican senators who sparked Wednesday's Capitol siege.
Cotton was notably not among congressmembers who objected to Wednesday's Electoral College certification, which came after Trump and his allies spent weeks falsely claiming fraud had cost him the election. While Cotton had previously said he had some "concerns" with vote accuracy in some states, he made it clear to Fox & Friends on Thursday that it's "not Congress' role to reverse the election results."
Meanwhile "some senators, for political advantage, were giving false hope to their supporters, misleading them into thinking that somehow" objecting to electoral college votes "could reverse the results of the election, or even get some kind of emergency audit of the election results," Cotton told Fox & Friends. "That was never going to happen." And "as insurrectionists literally stormed the Capitol," some of those senators "were literally sending out fundraising emails" and trying to capitalize on the moment, Cotton said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Cotton was likely referring to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who led the opposition to the electoral vote certification and sent out fundraising messages to supporters as the siege was going on. Kathryn Krawczyk
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
'Less is more' in The Fifth Step
The Week Recommends Jack Lowden from Slow Horses is 'staggeringly good' in this new production at London's @sohoplace
-
Chessboxing: the unique sport becoming a global hit
Under the Radar The sport involves a full game of chess interspersed with rounds of boxing
-
Crossword: May 29, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery
speed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges
-
Germany lifts Kyiv missile limits as Trump, Putin spar
speed read Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war prompted Trump to post that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'
-
Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter school
speed read The court upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools
-
GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trump
speed read The domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House would protect the Trump administration from the consequences of violating court orders
-
Judge scolds DOJ over Newark mayor arrest
speed read Ras Baraka was arrested during a May 9 surprise visit to a migrant detention facility
-
Trump lectures South Africa president on 'white genocide'
speed read Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over his demonstrably false genocide claims
-
Trump twists House GOP arms on megabill
speed read The bill will provide a $350 billion boost to military and anti-immigration spending and 'cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs'