Before objecting to election results in two states at the Capitol, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Told his followers about an incident that took place at his home in Vienna, Virginia, near Washington, while Hawley in Missouri was.
“Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa villains came to us in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who could not travel,” he wrote. “They shouted threats, vandalized and tried to open our door. Let me be clear: my family and I will not be intimidated by leftist violence. ”
He referred to a demonstration by the activist group ShutDownDC. The group is protesting against Hawley’s announcement that he would object to the electoral votes of some states when the Senate met on Wednesday to confirm the outcome of the November election. President Donald Trump claimed without proof that the election was riddled with election fraud. PolitiFact and other independent fact-checkers found that the allegations of voter fraud were false.
So what happened at Hawley’s house? At around 7.45pm on January 4, police arrived at the demonstration and their report of the event was very different from Hawley.
“People were peaceful,” Officer Juan Vazquez, a spokesman for the Vienna Police Department, told The Associated Press.
According to Vasquez, the protesters violated several laws, such as a law in Virginia banning protesters in front of a house, a town ordinance to be noisy in front of a house and a junk code, while protesters wrote messages with chalk on the sidewalk has. But Vasquez said that when officers explained the violations, ‘everyone is just gone’.
“There were no issues, no arrests,” he said. “We did not think it was such a big deal.”
ShutDownDC streamed the entire demonstration live on YouTube. The video shows a demonstration that, although disruptive, includes no threats and attempts to break inside. There was also no violence. Protesters, however, wrote messages on the sidewalk with chalk and warned by police.
According to the Washington Post, there were about 15 people there.
Protesters cheered as ‘ashamed of Hawley’ and ‘protect democracy against the GOP’. Protesters also lit candles, held signs, gave speeches and walked to his door to deliver a copy of the US Constitution.
Hawley’s deputy communications director Phil Letsou showed at one point in the video where protesters were exchanging words with Hawley’s wife and neighbors who came outside. The woman and the neighbors asked the protesters to leave, which they refused, but the protesters did not threaten, commit violence, vandalize or try to break in.
The demonstration lasted about half an hour.
Our verdict
Hawley said protesters at his home in Virginia “shouted threats, vandalized and tried to slam his door open.”
This is in violation of the police reports of the event and a video showing the full demonstration. The demonstration was disruptive, but the full video shows that it was not as violent as he made it sound.
We judge this claim mostly false.