Representative Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican who was deeply involved in former President Donald J. Trump’s attempt to use Congress to review the 2020 election and remain in office, claimed on Wednesday that the former president had put him in office. months after, had repeatedly called for illegal “revoke the election, remove President Biden and force a new special election.”
Mr Brooks made the extraordinary indictment when the two former allies were embroiled in a bitter political feud, and it was not immediately clear how their spat was related to the charge. But the Alabama congressman’s report, who played a pivotal role in challenging Biden’s election on Jan. 6, 2021, suggested Trump has continued his efforts to undo his defeat and be reinstated.
It was the first time a lawmaker involved in Mr. Trump’s attempts to invalidate his election defeat has said that Mr. Trump called for actions that, if possible, would violate federal law.
His statement came after Mr. Trump withdrew his endorsement of Mr. Brooks in the Republican primary for Alabama’s Senate seat, undermining the congressman’s already slim chances in a frenetic intraparty race.
“President Trump has asked me to revoke the 2020 election, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately return President Trump to the White House, and hold another special presidential election,” said Mr. Brooks. Wednesday in a statement. † “As a lawyer, I have repeatedly informed President Trump that January 6th was the final verdict on the election contest and that neither the US Constitution nor the US Code permits what President Trump asks. Period.”
In a subsequent text message, Mr. Brooks said that Mr. Trump had requested “multiple occasions” since September 1, 2021. Brooks repeatedly told him it was impossible.
“I told President Trump that ‘withdrawing’ the 2020 election was not a legal option. Period,” wrote Mr Brooks.
How Donald J. Trump is still looming
Mr Brooks said Mr Trump has raised the issue repeatedly over the past six months. He said he initially hoped the requests were unrelated to his approval in the Senate race, but now believes Mr. Trump is dangling public support for Mr. Brooks’s candidacy as leverage to try to get new elections.
“I hoped not, but you saw what happened today,” Mr Brooks said in a text message. “To emphasize, the talks about January 6, 2021 as the only cure for 2020 have been going on for 6+ months.”
“I know what the remedy is for a contested presidential election,” he continued. “There is one and only one under the Constitution and the US Code and it takes place on the first January 6th after every presidential election. Period. Game over after January 6.”
Mr Brooks’ high-profile split from Mr Trump raised the possibility that he could work with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, providing information the panel has so far been unable to glean. about what Mr Trump told his allies in Congress before, during and after the riots. Other Republicans implicated in the bid to reverse the 2020 election—Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania—rejected the panel’s requests for interviews.
Mr Brooks did not immediately respond to further questions. In his statement, he said he had fought on behalf of Mr Trump “between November 3 and January 6” – “when it counted”.
On December 21, 2020, Mr. Brooks and other House Republicans met with Mr. Trump at the White House to discuss plans to oppose the election. On January 6, he wore body armor as he addressed the crowd of Trump supporters gathered at the Ellipse near the White House, instructing them to “take names and kick.”
“Are you willing to do whatever it takes to fight for America?” said Mr. Brooks, urging the crowd to cheer louder. “Do you want to fight for America?”
Later on Capitol Hill, after a pro-Trump mob swept through the building, Mr. Brooks tried to object to several states’ electoral votes for Mr. Biden. He also spread false claims that people who identify with antifa, a loose collective of anti-fascist activists, could be responsible for the violence, and made a floor speech falsely claiming that the election was stolen from Mr. Trump.
“Non-citizens overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden in exchange for the promised amnesty and citizenship, thereby helping to steal the election from Donald Trump, Republican candidates and American citizens across America,” Brooks said at the time.
By withdrawing his endorsement from Brooks on Wednesday, Mr. Trump left one of his most loyal acolytes in the House after months of simmering frustration and as polls showed Mr. Brooks was falling behind in his state’s Republican primaries.
As a sign of the former president’s continued focus on the 2020 election, he cited Mr Brooks’ comments at a rally last summer urging voters to move forward with Mr Trump’s defeat in 2020.
“When I heard his statement, I said, ‘Mo, you just screwed up the election, and there’s nothing you can do about it,'” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday. “Very sad, but since he decided to go in a different direction, so have I.”
After Mr. Brooks released his statement, Mr. Trump replied with a second statement not addressing Mr Brooks’s allegations, but said the congressman “woke up and decided to drop everything he stood for.”
Mr Trump said he would support another candidate in the race to replace Senator Richard C. Shelby, who is retiring. The former president met in person with both of the other leading candidates: Katie Britt, a former top aide to Mr Shelby, and Mike Durant, who was in one of the Black Hawk helicopters that was shot down in Somalia in 1993. Durant was at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida, this week to meet with him, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting who spoke about it on condition of anonymity.
mr. Brooks struggles to raise money and has seen his support for the competition evaporate. In some private polls, Mr. Brooks dropped to third place. Mr Shelby recently told Politico that he planned to use his leftover campaign money – a staggering $6 million – to help Ms Britt, a financial infusion that further narrowed Mr Brooks’ road to victory.
Trump’s endorsement was so central to Brooks’ candidacy that his official campaign logo featured the fact that Mr. Trump had supported him.
In a last-ditch effort to keep Mr. Trump in his corner, Mr. Brooks last week ran a television ad using footage of his speech at the Jan. 6 meeting. Looking straight into the camera, Mr Brooks said in the ad, “On January 6, I stood proudly next to President Trump in the fight against voter fraud.”
Mr Brooks has repeatedly defended his actions by challenging the legitimacy of the 2020 election and undoing its results.
But on Wednesday, he recalled to Mr Trump.
“I reiterate what caused President Trump’s anger,” he said in his statement. “The only legal way America can avoid the 2020 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 will give us fair and accurate elections.”
He added: “I told President Trump the truth knowing that it could lead to President Trump withdrawing his endorsement. But I have sworn to defend and protect the United States Constitution. I honor my oath. That’s how I am. I will not break my sworn oath to anyone.”