GOP rep slams 'self-aggrandizing con artist' Josh Hawley: 'One of the worst human beings'

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is among the few Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who isn’t afraid to vehemently criticize former President Donald Trump and his MAGA loyalists, and on February 2, the anti-Trump conservative slammed Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri as a “self-aggrandizing con artist” in response to the GOP senator’s comments on President Joe Biden and Ukraine.

Hawley has criticized Biden for ordering 3000 U.S. troops to Europe. Thousands of Russian troops are stationed on the Russia-Ukraine border, and the Biden Administration fears that Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, will invade Ukraine. Hawley also called for the Biden White House to block Ukraine from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

While Hawley is a major Trump apologist, Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s select committee on the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The other is Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, another scathing critic of the former president.

On February 2, Kinzinger tweeted, “I hate to be so personal, but Hawley is one of the worst human beings, and a self egrandizing con artist. When Trump goes down I certainly hope this evil will be laid in the open for all to see, and be ashamed of.”

When Business Insider asked Hawley to comment on Kinzinger’s tweet, he laughed and responded, “And what prompts this outburst?.... Weird.”

Kinzinger, in response to Hawley, tweeted, “It is weird. We are in weird times. Like having a Senator more interested in pleasing Tucker and playing to worst instincts than leading. Denying Jan 6th truth despite fomenting it, among other things.”

The Tucker that Kinzinger was referring to was Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who, like Hawley, has been a critic of the Biden Administration’s Ukraine policy. Hawley, in a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, wrote, “Such a deployment can only detract from the U.S. military's ability to ready and modernize forces to deter China in the Indo-Pacific.”

On February 2, Business Insider journalists Brent D. Griffiths, John Haltiwanger and Bryan Metzger noted, “This isn't the first time Kinzinger has attacked Hawley. Kinzinger, a member of the House's January 6, 2021 committee and one of the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection, previously criticized the senator for bragging about his role in leading the effort to object to the certification of the 2020 presidential election.”

The 43-year-old Kinzinger was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and is presently serving his sixth term. On October 29, 2021, the GOP congressman — obviously troubled by the Trumpified direction of his party — announced that he won’t be seeking reelection in the 2022 midterms.