ST. LOUIS, Mo – One day after Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley objected to certifying electoral college results in favor of President-Elect Joe Biden, one of Hawley’s mentors and a key figure in pushing his 2018 Senate campaign is voicing his regrets.

Former Missouri U.S. Senator John Danforth told St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger that “Supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life.” Danforth said the violence Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol was the “culmination of the long attempt to foment a lack of public confidence in our democratic system. It is very dangerous to America to continue pushing this idea that government doesn’t work and that voting was fraudulent.”

Danforth told the Associated Press that he was “bamboozled” by Hawley and would no longer back him for re-election or a possible White House bid in 2024.

Asked if he believes Hawley bears some responsibility for the attack on the Capitol, Danforth says simply, “Yes, I do.”

There have been calls for Hawley’s resignation in the wake of Wednesday’s violence. His office released a statement saying “he will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections.”