Hawley posted the announcement of his plans on Twitter. The official Walmart account responded, saying: “Go ahead. Get your 2 hour debate. #soreloser.”
Objections to electoral votes trigger a two-hour debate and a vote by both chambers of Congress on whether to uphold the challenges.
Hawley responded about an hour later, thanking Walmart for its “insulting condescension.”
“Now that you’ve insulted 75 million Americans, will you at least apologize for using slave labor?” he asked. “Or maybe you’d like to apologize for the pathetic wages you pay your workers as you drive mom and pop stores out of business.”
Attempts to reach Walmart were not successful.
The company later deleted the tweet and posted an apology.
“The tweet published earlier was mistakenly posted by a member of our social media team. We deleted the post and have no intention of commenting on the subject of certifying the electoral college. We apologize to Senator Hawley for this error and any confusion about our position,” the Arkansas-based company said.
Hawley was the first senator to commit to objecting to electoral votes during the Jan. 6, 2021, session. A slew of representatives have pledged to do so, but objections aren’t valid without the support of at least one senator.
