GOP senator demands laws be enforced after attacking prosecutor for doing just that

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) demanded on Thursday that any public official unwilling to enforce the law resign their position. But just weeks ago, he attacked a prosecutor in his home state for doing her job.

“I hope that we will send a very clear message, as Republicans, that the first job of government is to protect law-abiding Americans. Any elected official who has law enforcement responsibility and won’t do it needs to resign,” he said in a Facebook post. “That means these Democrat governors and mayors who are allowing their streets to descend into chaos, allowing workers and their families to be assaulted, they need to resign.”

Hawley was apparently upset about ongoing protests in American cities demanding an end to systemic racism and police brutality. He urged Donald Trump to follow through with his threat to intervene using “all lawful means in his authority.”

His office did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.

Back in July, Haley was outraged when St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner opened an investigation into whether a couple had violated a Missouri weapons law. Mark and Patricia McCloskey gained international attention after they pointed guns at nonviolent protesters outside their home in late June.

Hawley denounced the city investigation as “a politically motivated attempt to punish this family for exercising their Second Amendment rights,” and asked Attorney General William Barr to launch a federal civil rights investigation into Gardner.

“This is a dog whistle of racist rhetoric and cronyism politics,” Gardner told The Washington Post at the time. “Senator Hawley, who believes in the Constitution, is usurping the will of the voters. I thought the Republican Party was all about states’ rights and local control. What happened?”

Despite Hawley’s objections, Gardner charged both McCloskeys with unlawfully exhibiting a weapon — a felony in the state.

Hawley called the charges “an abuse of power.” Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, has promised to pardon the couple, if necessary.

On Tuesday, the McCloskeys spoke at the Republican National Convention, warning of “an out-of-control mob causing chaos in the streets” and claiming that “your family will not be safe in the Radical Democrats’ America.”

The Justice Department said in July that it was “reviewing” Hawley’s request.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.