Josh Hawley mercilessly mocked with memes after Jan 6 footage shows him fleeing from Trump supporters

Josh Hawley has faced the ire of social media after footage showed him fleeing from Trump supporters on January 6.

Clips released by the January 6 committee shows the Republican senator running away from pro-Trump protesters.

The events happened just hours after he was pictured raising his fist in solidarity with them – and now, understandably, he’s been mercilessly mocked with memes.

The footage was revealed by Democratic congresswoman Elaine Luria on Thursday after first showing the photograph of Hawley showing his support to protesters before Congress met to certify the presidential election.

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“As you can see in this photo, he raised his fist in solidarity with the protesters already amassing at the security gates,” she said.

The video shows him running through the Capitol building as rioters entered the building, and it was met with laughter from the committee room.

It wasn’t just the people in the room who had something to say about it either, as the reaction on social media showed.

Congresswoman Luria said on Thursday that Capitol police had testified that Hawley’s actions had “riled up” the crowd that day.

“We spoke with a Capitol police officer who was out there at the time. She told us that just Senator Hawley’s 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,” the congresswoman said.

“Think about what we’ve seen,” she added. “Undeniable violence at the Capitol. The vice president being evacuated to safety by the Secret Service. Senators running through the hallways of the Senate to get away from the mob.”