Police investigate alleged harassment of Josh Hawley’s sister in Springfield
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley accused a progressive political action committee Friday of harassing his sister at her medical office in Springfield.
In an escalating series of Twitter exchanges, Hawley and the Really American PAC accused each other of lying. Hawley posted a comment from his sister saying she had contacted the police, while the PAC told the senator he would be hearing from its lawyers.
“My sister is a doctor and a Navy vet. She spends her life serving others. This week, a Democrat group has come to her clinic during working hours multiple times to harass her and her patients, driving a billboard truck around the clinic - all because she’s my sister,” Hawley said on Twitter Friday afternoon.
The senator’s sister, Dr. Lesley Hawley, has dermatology practice in Springfield. She owns a home in nearby Ozark, Missouri.
Hawley has used his sister’s address in Ozark for voter registration since last year and continued to do so as of Friday, according to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. While his sister’s address serves as his legal residence, the senator and his wife spend most of their time at a home they own in northern Virginia.
The PAC called Hawley’s claims of harassment “patently false” and referred to him as a “traitorous liar,” before linking to The Star’s past coverage of his living arrangement.
“Josh Hawley listed a residence in Missouri as his voting residence. How would anyone know that Hawley himself is a carpetbagger actually living in Virginia,” the PAC said on Twitter.
Hawley responded that the incident took place in Springfield rather than Ozark.
“Another lie, and not a plausible one. You came on to the private property of a medical clinic in Springfield, MO - multiple times over multiple days, to harass my sister. I live in Ozark, MO. Different town,” he said.
Hawley later posted a statement attributed to his sister, which said that she had contacted police.
“This group has come to my medical clinic, onto private property, apparently in an attempt to harass me and my patients for political purposes. We have reported them to police. I will not allow my patients, many of whom are elderly, to be intimidated or denied medical care. And if you think you’re going to intimidate me, you’re dead wrong,” Lesley Hawley said in the statement.
A spokeswoman with the Springfield Police Department confirmed that the department is investigating three incidents of alleged harassment at the practice going back to January. The most recent took place June 21 and was reported the following day, according to the incident reports.
“All three are currently listed as active cases and so we can’t release any further information until the investigations have concluded,” said Jasmine Bailey, public affairs officer with the Springfield Police Department.
The exact nature of the alleged harassment is unclear based on the limited information in the incident reports. A Jan. 8 incident is listed as “phone harassment,” while the other two incidents are just referred to as “Harassment.”
It’s also not clear whether the June 21 incident is connected to the two January incidents, which both took place the same week that Hawley led the unsuccessful effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Hawley’s office said all three incidents have also been reported to U.S. Capitol Police.
Hawley posted photographs on Twitter Friday of a truck that was allegedly trespassing at the medical office. The truck has a billboard that reads, “Josh Hawley Betrayed Missouri and America.”
The truck also includes a photo of Hawley raising fist in solidarity with a crowd of former President Donald Trump’s supporters outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 shortly before the building was stormed by rioters.
Hawley has repeatedly disputed the notion that the people he greeted were necessarily part of the Capitol riot. But HuffPost reviewed photographs of the crowd that Hawley saw and confirmed it included people who were also photographed taking part in the attack.
Really American PAC has targeted Hawley and other GOP lawmakers who championed Trump’s effort to overturn the election. From January through May, the group spent $8,772.83 in opposition to Hawley, according to Federal Election Commission records. It has also called for his expulsion from the Senate.
The PAC did not respond a question Friday about Lesley’s Hawley’s harassment claims, but on Twitter it accused senator of trying to intimidate the organization.
“It’s a poor attempt to deflect, and a disgraceful, yet understandable move from a literal traitor. He’s a pathological liar and a psychopath,” the PAC said.
This is not the first time a member of Hawley’s family has called the police in response to a protest related to his election challenge.
Police in Vienna, Virginia, responded to a call from Hawley’s wife, Erin Hawley, after protesters gathered outside the couple’s home in the Washington suburb on Jan. 4, two days before the Capitol riot, after Hawley became the first senator to announce plans to object to the Electoral College results.
Hawley claimed on social media that his family had been threatened and their property damaged.
Police called the protest peaceful and a minor incident, but said the protesters had violated a Virginia law that forbids protests outside private residences. They also violated a noise ordinance and an anti-littering ordinance by drawing messages in chalk on the public sidewalk.
The following month Erin Hawley filed a criminal complaint against one of the protest’s organizers, Patrick Young of the activist group Shutdown DC.
Hawley and Young traded barbs Friday evening on social media, disputing the status of the pending case. Young has a court hearing scheduled for August 16 on the misdemeanor charge.
This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
