Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has defeated scandal-scarred former Gov. Eric Greitens and 19 others in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Eric Greitens resigned as Missouri governor in 2018 amid criminal charges and legislative investigations.

An attorney who held key roles in the George W.

An attorney working as a senior investigator for the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will leave the post amid calls urging him to run for a Missouri U.S. Senate seat as an independent.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. John Danforth and others are urging a former federal prosecutor who now serves as an attorney for the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to make an independent run for one of Missouri’s Senate seats.

For all their angst about the possibility of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens winning the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in the state, GOP leaders haven’t coalesced behind an alternative.

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021 file image from video, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. At least four additional companies that have donated to Hawley have announced they are suspending campaign contributions. And the allegation itself is corrosive and dangerous.”Other than Trump himself, no politician has suffered the fallout as has Hawley. Hallmark Cards, based in Kansas City, earlier this week asked Hawley and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to return employee campaign donations. Hawley, in his 739-word essay, said those involved in the Capitol attack must be punished, saying, “Mob violence is always wrong.”“But democratic debate is not mob violence,” Hawley wrote.

“Supporting Josh Hawley ... was the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life,” former Missouri Sen. John Danforth told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt,” read the headline of the editorial. Hawley, who defeated Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018, was once celebrated by the Republican establishment as a rising star. David Humphreys is president and CEO of Tamko Building Products in Joplin, Missouri, who has donated millions of dollars to Hawley and other Republicans. Now Danforth wonders how Hawley will be able to work with his Senate colleagues, even Republicans, moving forward.

“Supporting Josh Hawley ... was the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life," former Missouri Sen. John Danforth told The Associated Press on Thursday. Soon Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were leading about 10 other senators in the effort — notably not winning over Sens. With Hawley sitting near, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney blasted those who objected to finalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s election. The student bar association at the University of Missouri law school, where Hawley taught, issued a statement calling for his resignation. Now Danforth wonders how Hawley will be able to work with his Senate colleagues, even Republicans, moving forward.

Eleven Republican senators saying they will not be voting Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, to confirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory include Wyoming's newly sworn in Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Cheyenne-area rancher and former congresswoman. It is unclear just what the Republican senators will do, but the process could drag into the night as the two chambers will have to consider each objection individually. And more than a dozen Republican senators have said they will not support the effort. Facing the criticism from many in his own party, Cruz has attempted to put a finer point on his challenge. The commission remains his focus, he has said, not to undo the election results, even though that would be the practical effect of a successful objection.