Sen. Josh Hawley Tuesday insisted a St. Louis couple had the right to defend their property when they displayed guns during protests outside their mansion and called for the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the "out of control" prosecutor who has filed charges against them.
"They were standing on their own property," the Missouri Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends" about Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who face felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree assault.
Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who filed the charges against the McCloskeys, both personal injury attorneys in their 60s, said their actions risked creating a violent situation during a nonviolent protest.
"They were on their own property," said Hawley. "They were carrying lawful firearms that they lawfully possessed and trespassers broke down a gate and came on to their property and a couple said, 'Get off our property. Don't hurt us. Get off of our area,' and they had every right to do that."
He added that their case is a "textbook example" of abuse of power on Gardner's part, and "that's why I think the United States Department of Justice needs to open a civil rights investigation into the St. Louis circuit attorney's office."
Hawley has written a letter to Attorney General William Barr to ask for the investigation. He also claimed Tuesday that Gardner has had "dozens of violent rioters and looters brought to her by the St. Louis Police Department and she hasn't prosecuted them. She has let them go. She has turned them back out into the street and then she goes after this couple who are absolutely entitled under the United States Constitution, the Missouri Constitution, and Missouri law to protect their own property. It's a terrible miscarriage of justice."
He also said her decision to file charges "looks like" a political hit job.
"I don't know how else you can explain why you would bring a lawsuit that is plainly prohibited by Missouri law for rights that are protected by the United States Constitution," said Hawley.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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