Joe Manchin Backs Congress Considering Removal of Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley Over Capitol Insurrection – By Benjamin Fearnon (Newsweek) / January 16 2021
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, considered by many to be the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, said his colleagues should consider expelling Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for their alleged roles in inciting the January 6 “insurrection” at the Capitol.
In a Friday interview on PBS’ Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, Manchin said that while he has a good personal relationship with Cruz and Hawley, their alleged violation of the 14th Amendment’s rule against inciting an insurrection and holding public office should be investigated. Both Hawley and Cruz have been widely condemned for challenging the Electoral College results during certification, especially after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in hopes of derailing President-elect Joe Biden‘s impending move into the White House. Manchin said he personally confronted Hawley to “change his mind” and think about the wider repercussions of his and Cruz’s attempt to block the January 6 vote, but there was essentially zero meaningful response.
Manchin called the deadly January 6 riot at the Capitol “total insurrection, it’s sedition,” before noting that the 14th Amendment was adopted after the Civil War in order to ban seditionists from holding the exact public offices held today by Cruz, Hawley and other members of the failed “sedition caucus.” Manchin challenged both Cruz and Hawley to admit whether they were sending out fundraising requests at the same time that they were helping to spark an insurrection.
