President-Elect Joe Biden accused Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) of being “part of the big lie” during a January 8 press conference.
Biden was asked if Cruz and Hawley should resign after they had expressed opposition to Congress certifying his Electoral College victory. The president-elect replied that both senators should be voted out of office but stopped short of saying they should both resign.
“The American public has a real good clear look at who they are,” Biden said. “They’re part of the big lie.” He later added: “[Nazi propagandist Joseph] Goebbels and the great lie. You keep repeating the lie, repeating the lie.”
Both senators denounced Biden’s analogy of them to Goebbels.
“At a time of deep national division, President-elect Biden’s choice to call his political opponents literal Nazis does nothing to bring us together or promote healing,” Cruz tweeted. “This kind of vicious partisan rhetoric only tears our country apart.”
Really sad. At a time of deep national division, President-elect Biden’s choice to call his political opponents literal Nazis does nothing to bring us together or promote healing.
This kind of vicious partisan rhetoric only tears our country apart. https://t.co/YMMepv1OhV
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 8, 2021
Hawley similarly said in a statement, “Because I raised questions in the format prescribed by the laws of the United States about the way elections were conducted by the state of Pennsylvania, just as Democrats did about other states in 2001, 2005 and 2017, he is calling me a Nazi. This is undignified, immature and intemperate behavior from the President-elect.”
He added that Biden should retract his comment and Democrats “should be asked to disavow these disgusting comments.”
HAWLEY on Biden comments: “this is undignified, immature, and intemperate behavior from the President-elect. It is utterly shameful. He should act like a dignified adult and retract these sick comments.” pic.twitter.com/JUaoapPzck
— Chris Cioffi (@ReporterCioffi) January 8, 2021
On January 6, rioters at Washington, D.C. stormed the Capitol Building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. Five people died during the riots, including a Capitol Police officer.
At least two Democratic senators have called on Cruz and Hawley to resign for fomenting “a violent mob for personal gain. A spokesperson for Cruz replied that the Texas senator “immediately condemned this terrorist attack and called for anyone who stormed the Capitol to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Hawley said that he “will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections.”
