Sen. Josh Hawley defends pumping fist to Jan. 6 rioters — then fleeing from violent extremists

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) defended his infamous fist pump that riled up the Jan. 6 attackers — and his caught-on-film effort to run away from the violent rioters.

“I don’t regret anything that I did that day,” Hawley defiantly told CNN on Wednesday.

Denouncing what he called “trolling” by the congressional Jan. 6 committee, the right-wing firebrand said the panel was seeking to score cheap political points by airing footage of him fleeing the attackers.

“The reason I’m being attacked by the January 6 committee is because I’m in their way,” Hawley said. “The stand that I took is one…I won’t back down from.”

Hawley, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, has become a lightning rod for both critics and supporters of the extremist mob that stormed the Capitol.

[ Hawley takes heat for fleeing from Jan. 6 mob he inspired ]

The youthful lawmaker was captured in a photo pumping his fist in approval at the pro-Trump rioters who overwhelmed police and invaded the building in an effort to block Congress from certifying President Biden’s 2020 election win.

Capitol Police officers told the committee that Hawley’s gesture encouraged the rioters.

The attackers rampaged through the Capitol hunting down perceived enemies of Trump and even chanted threats to execute former Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump denounced as a traitor to the MAGA cause.

Hawley became a poster boy for the hypocrisy of some Trump supporters when the Jan. 6 committee aired humiliating footage of him running away from the mob that he himself had egged on just minutes earlier.