“For most of the time, he was in a corner of the room by himself"

In a secure room where stunned senators were hiding from an angry mob on Wednesday, Sen. Josh Hawley stood in a corner, mostly alone.

“It was extremely striking,” said a person who was in the room on that chaotic day. “For most of the time, he was in a corner of the room by himself with no one talking to him or acknowledging him.”…

A person involved in Republican Senate leadership efforts to recruit Mr. Hawley said on Friday that he has been a disappointment.

“At a personal level we did our due diligence,” the person said. “There were a lot of people we spoke to about him. They said he’s really smart, thoughtful, going to be a star. I had no idea that he would take such dramatic short-term risks that just are reckless. On its face, as a 41-year-old U.S. senator, hitching your wagon to a 75-year-old outgoing president is not good politics. It’s just a bad move.”