Trump loyalist Josh Hawley ignores impeachment trial evidence by sitting in gallery to review paperwork

Senator Josh Hawley, a bellwether of Donald Trump's "stop the steal" movement to overturn the 2020 election results, was watching the second day of impeachment proceedings against the former president from the gallery above the chamber.

The Trump loyalist, a first-term Missouri Republican, was seen at various points with his legs crossed, his feet propped up on the chair in front of him, and reviewing some sort of paperwork in a manila folder, according to several reporters with a view of the room from their seats in the press gallery.

All other 99 senators were seated at their desks on the Senate floor, except for Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the president pro tempore of the chamber who is presiding over the trial from the top perch atop the dais.

Mr Hawley later explained his decision to sit in the gallery instead of at his desk in a brief interview with NBC.

"The gallery is — I feel had a little bit better view," he said. "Where I sit over in the Senate chamber is kind of in the corner. So, here you can sit head on. I can also space out a little bit more and it's just not quite as crowded."

He elaborated to Fox News.

"It's a better viewpoint because I can look right at the impeachment managers and see them in the face. When I'm sitting in the chamber, I kinda look at the back of their head," he said.

Mr Hawley, along with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and a handful of other Republicans, voted against the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory on 6 and 7 January, even after a pro-Trump mob interrupted the day's proceedings with a bloody insurrection.

Mr Hawley was the first senator to announce he would join the majority of House Republicans in objecting to the 2020 election results on 6 January.

"Millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard," the Missouri senator wrote on 30 December 2020. "Somebody has to stand up."

He has pilloried the impeachment trial against Mr Trump as "unconstitutional," arguing that a former president cannot be put on trial.

House impeachment managers spent hours on Tuesday attempting to dismantle that view, invoking the public writings of conservative legal scholars who say the current trial comports with the US founding document.

Forty-six Republicans still voted to dismiss the trial on Tuesday on constitutional grounds. Six voted with all 50 Democrats to proceed.

Mr Hawley has denied that his rhetoric fuelled the anger and violence that resulted in the deaths of five people at the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January, the nexus of Mr Trump's impeachment. He has said on multiple occasions that he does not regret voting against Mr Biden's election certification.

"I will never apologise for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections," Mr Hawley told a local TV station the day after the riot. "That’s my job, and I will keep doing it."