The photographer who caught and photographed Sen. Josh Hawley's notorious raised fist saluting Jan. 6 protesters undercut the Missouri Republican's explanation that he was not offering "encouragement" to the MAGA supporters.
In an interview with Politico, photographer Francis Chung explained how he happened to be situated in a way that he saw the Missouri Republican fleeing as the Jan. 6 insurrection ramped up and the Capitol was overrun by rioters who supported Donald Trump.
Speaking with Politico's Michael Schaffer, Chung explained, "I think he may have been the first and only lawmaker I saw outside that day. Given that that was one of the things I was trying to get, and having known that he was one of the first lawmakers to say he was going to vote against certification, he was definitely on the shortlist of people I would have been interested in. So I ran over towards him, literally, and then caught up to him, shot a bunch of frames, of which, of course, the fist pump is the one that I filed [to my editors]. He waved and did a few other things. But the fist pump was the most important sign of, shall we say, solidarity with those who had been gathered there."
After noting that those who saw the raised fist from Hawley appeared "excited," Chung was asked about the way Haley has dismissed accusations he was giving support to the eventual rioters.
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"I think it was a moment when the energy of the crowd did increase. There was cheering. He wasn’t very close to the crowd, but to my recollection, it seemed to liven people up," he explained before adding, "I can’t get into his head. And I can’t get into the heads of the people who he was gesturing at in the moment that photo was taken. So I don’t know that I can comment on whether or not he was. I would say, from the way I saw it, and from the way the picture speaks for itself, there’s a clear show of support from Sen. Hawley to the Trump supporters gathered, at the time still even in an almost placid manner."
"I’d been having some problems finding interesting photos because it was a pretty sedate protest up to that point. All I can attest to is that there was a show of solidarity from Hawley to those people. The violent attack on the Capitol happened later," he added.
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