Messenger: Hawley’s fundraising pitch is as dishonest as his embrace of Trump’s Big Lie

Then there’s the famous sex trafficking bust that elevated his ladder-climbing career. “My efforts to crack down on human trafficking led to the biggest human trafficking bust in Missouri history.”

That claim is as false as the first time he made it, but it seems so earnest in fake handwriting. In fact, the biggest human trafficking bust in Missouri history was carried out by the FBI about a year before Hawley was elected. Hawley used his private campaign consultants to set up a press event where he bragged about coordinating the raiding of some massage parlors in southwest Missouri. Not a single felony charge was filed. Not one.

But, hey, why should a U.S. Senator let the facts get in the way of a good fundraising pitch? The pitch worked, sort of. Hawley reported raising $3 million last quarter, more than most senators, and he doesn’t face reelection until 2024. Of course, that’s only part of the story. As ProPublica reported this week, Hawley had to spend $600,000 of that haul buying mailing lists, and he relied on a marketing vendor that often takes up to 80 cents on the dollar from some fundraising pitches.