Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) is defending himself post-breakup.
Hours after former President Trump announced on Wednesday that he is done with Brooks, the GOP congressman responded to the latest blow to his limping campaign with a fresh statement. In it, he claimed that he has “not changed” his loyalty to the Big Lie — it’s just that he and Trump are at odds about how to keep the Big Lie alive and well.
In a statement issued through his Save America PAC on Wednesday morning, Trump accused Brooks of making a “horrible mistake” when he apparently “went woke” by daring to utter it was time to move on from the 2020 presidential election. At a MAGA rally in Alabama last year, Brooks urged voters to stop feeling “despondent” about 2020 and “look forward” to 2022 and 2024 — a remark that reportedly made Trump doubt his initial endorsement of Brooks.
“When I heard his statement, I said, ‘Mo, you just blew the Election, and there’s nothing you can do about it,’” Trump said in his statement.
The former president said that he was retracting his endorsement of Brooks “since he decided to go in another direction.”
But Brooks doth protest — the newly Trump-less GOP congressman denied that he is any less loyal to the Big Lie in a statement responding to Trump’s dumping.
Brooks declared Trump had somehow been “manipulated” by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — despite the former president’s ongoing crusade to oust McConnell from leadership.
“It’s disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again,” Brooks said. “Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies. I wish President Trump wouldn’t fall for McConnell’s ploys, but, once again, he has.”
Brooks insists he has “not changed” and that he is committed to pushing falsehoods of widespread election fraud, reiterating his suggestion that the GOP should now turn its focus to 2022 and 2024 elections.
“I repeat what has prompted President Trump’s ire,” Brooks said. “The only legal way America can prevent 2020’s election debacle is for patriotic Americans to focus on and win the 2022 and 2024 elections so that we have the power to enact laws that give us honest and accurate elections.”
Brooks also repeated his previous claim that Trump asked him, as a congressman, to do whatever he could to rescind the 2020 election and immediately remove President Biden from the White House in order to put Trump back in office. It’s one of the first few times we’ve heard that Trump asked Brooks to somehow pull Biden out of the White House. But the GOP congressman pushed back, saying in his statement that he repeatedly advised Trump that his demand was not constitutionally possible. Brooks said he told Trump that Jan. 6, 2021 — the day of the joint session of Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory — was the last chance to overturn the election (which obviously some people tried to do).
Here’s the full quote from Brooks’ statement:
“President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency,” Brooks said. “As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.”
Brooks acknowledged that by pushing back he knew he might’ve been risking his endorsement.
But, “I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution,” Brooks said. “I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.”
Despite all the endorsement drama, Brooks has continued to push the Big Lie well after his remarks at the MAGA rally in Alabama last year.
Shortly after Trump told the Washington Examiner last week that he was considering revoking his endorsement of Brooks, the GOP congressman rushed out a campaign ad swearing fealty to Trump and his election fraud beliefs.
Additionally, Brooks parroted Trump’s crusade against McConnell by releasing another campaign ad in the past week vowing to “fight” the Senate minority leader.
