Walmart has issued a public apology to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) after the company's Twitter account criticized the senator for announcing he will object during the Electoral College certification, calling him a "#soreloser."

Hawley on Wednesday became the first U.S. senator to declare his intention to object to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6. "Millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard. I will object on January 6 on their behalf," Hawley tweeted.

In response, the verified corporate Twitter account for Walmart wrote, "Go ahead. Get your 2 hour debate. #soreloser." That tweet has since been deleted, but not before Hawley captured a screenshot and replied back.

"Thanks ⁦@Walmart⁩ for your insulting condescension. Now that you've insulted 75 million Americans, will you at least apologize for using slave labor?" Hawley asked.

In a follow-up tweet, he added: "Or maybe you'd like to apologize for the pathetic wages you pay your workers as you drive mom and pop stores out of business."

Walmart did issue an apology for the tweet but not for the things Hawley accused the company of doing.

"The tweet was mistakenly posted by a member of our social media team who intended to publish this comment to their personal account," Walmart senior manager Casey Staheli said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "We have removed the post and have no intention of commenting on the subject of certifying the electoral college. We apologize to Senator Hawley for this error and any confusion about our position."

On Jan. 6, Congress will meet in a joint session to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, which President-elect Joe Biden won 306 to President Donald Trump's 232. According to the Congressional Research Service, when the certificate or papers documenting each state's electoral votes is read during the session, the president of the Senate (Vice President Pence) will call for objections, if there are any. An objection may be made by presenting the Senate president with a written document signed by one member of the House of Representatives and one member of the Senate listing the grounds for their objection. At this point, the joint session will be suspended and each house of Congress will consider the objection separately. Both houses must agree to the objection by simple majority vote, otherwise it will fail and the electoral votes will be counted.

It is extraordinarily unlikely that the Democratic majority in the House will vote to discount the electoral votes of any state that declared Joe Biden the winner, and therefore any objection filed by Hawley or others is all but certain to fail after debate on the matter is finished and each house of Congress votes.

After Walmart's interaction with Hawley, #BoycottWalmart trended on Twitter.