As Josh Hawley loses a book deal over the Capitol riots, his GOP mentor says backing him was ‘the worst mistake I ever made’

John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, had once viewed Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) as a “once-in-a-generation” talent — a young, upstart politician with a promising future in Washington.

Yet after a mob of Trump supporters burst into the Capitol on Wednesday, Danforth said that campaigning for Hawley to take his old seat was “the worst mistake I ever made in my life.”