Google stops political donations to Republicans who voted against certifying Biden's election victory

Technology company described the Capitol riots as ‘disturbing’

Google has announced that it will not donate to members of Congress this cycle who voted against certifying the results of November 2020’s presidential election.

The technology company was one of several leading organisations, including Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook, that announced last week that it would be pausing donations to the politicians while undertaking a review.

Google was also joined by Walmart, Morgan Stanley and Hallmark, alongside numerous other household names.

Following the review, Google announced on Tuesday that its political action committee, NetPac, had decided to not donate to the 147 Republican politicians who voted against certifying President Joe Biden’s victory, following the riot that took place at the US Capitol during the vote.

Five people died and several more were injured as a mob of pro-Trump rioters breached the US Capitol during the vote on 6 January, causing members of the House to barricade themselves inside offices.

On Tuesday, a Google representative told The Independent: “After the disturbing events at the Capitol, NetPAC paused all contributions while undertaking a review.

“Following that review, the NetPAC board has decided that it will not be making any contributions this cycle to any member of Congress who voted against certification of the election results.”

Several of the Republican politicians who voted against certifying Mr Biden’s victory in one or more states, helped amplify false claims about widespread fraud peddled by former president Donald Trump and his campaign. 

Numerous politicians have said that the actions of the politicians objecting to Mr Biden’s victory leading up to the vote helped amplify the misinformation that led to rioters breaching the Capitol.

High profile Republican senators, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, were among the most vocal about their objections to Mr Biden’s victory in the build up to the vote, and continued to contest the victory after Congress returned following the insurrection.

Leading up to the vote, Mr Cruz made several false claims about November’s presidential election, which Mr Biden won by more than 7 million votes, and sent out a fundraising email while the mob breached the Capitol.

Google previously donated to Mr Cruz, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Hallmark decided to go one step further, as the organisation asked Mr Hawley and Roger Marshall, a Kansas senator who voted against Mr Biden’s certification, to refund its political donations to them, according to Insider.

Last Thursday, seven Democratic senators filed an ethics complaint against Mr Cruz and Mr Hawley, who are both rumoured candidates for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, seeking to establish a “complete account” of their potential responsibility for the riots on 6 January.

The complaint seeks to probe whether “Hawley or Cruz took any action that encouraged the insurrections’ actions, and whether the insurrectionists cited senators Hawley or Cruz as part of their rationale for storming the Capitol.”

The Democratic senators, who lodged the action before the Senate Ethics Committee, claim that by announcing they would object to the vote, the GOP senators “amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country.”

Mr Trump was impeached by the House for a second time for his role in inciting the riots at a rally held nearby. He faces a Senate impeachment trial in the first few months of Mr Biden’s presidency.