About
Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011–22, representing Alabama’s 5th Congressional District. He was a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus and claimed that during President Obama’s administration the Democratic Party had launched a “war on whites.”
After the 2020 presidential election, Brooks cast doubt on the legitimacy of Biden’s victory and was reportedly a “ringleader” among congressional Republicans who actively supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the outcome. He objected to certifying the Electoral College results and voted against both impeaching Trump for inciting the mob on Jan. 6 and establishing a special House committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol, among other measures.
In March 2021, Brooks announced his intention to run for the Senate instead of the House in 2022, hoping to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). However, once he publicly suggested it was time to move on from the 2020 election, Trump refused to endorse him. After repeated attempts to grovel and plead for the ex-president’s blessing, Brooks groused that Trump “has no loyalty to anyone or anything but himself.” In June 2022, he lost the GOP primary run-off to Trump’s preferred candidate, Katie Britt, who went on to win the seat in November. “Mo’s fate was sealed the moment [the endorsement of Britt] hit his inbox,” one Trump adviser told CNN, describing that endorsement as the “kiss of death” for the six-term congressman.
January 6, 2021
- Two organizers of Stop the Steal rallies identified Brooks as one of several congressional Republicans involved in planning the protests at the Capitol, according to reporting by Rolling Stone.
- According to reporting by Politico, Brooks “spearheaded” the GOP push within the House to overturn the results of the 2020 election. His efforts included organizing meetings to whip up support for objecting to the election results during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.
- Ali Alexander, who popularized the Stop the Steal campaign, has claimed that Brooks was involved in planning the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6. In a video livestream, he said that Brooks, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) “schemed up [the idea] of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting so that who we… could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body hearing our loud roar from outside.”
- Brooks delivered a speech at the March to Save America rally that directly preceded the storming of the Capitol. In his remarks, he told the crowd, “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” During the speech he also referred to Americans who had died for the U.S. and asked his audience if they would be “willing to do the same.”
- After the riot began, Brooks suggested that Antifa was responsible for the violence.
- Just hours after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Brooks joined 146 other congressional Republicans in refusing to certify Biden’s win of the 2020 presidential election.
The Big Lie
- In the weeks before the 2020 election, Brooks repeatedly alleged that mail-in ballots had been compromised and that the Democratic Party would benefit from rampant voter fraud.
- Brooks was among 34 Republican members of Congress who repeatedly texted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about various schemes to overturn the election results—both before and after the events of Jan. 6, according to TPM.
- Brooks joined pro-Trump Republicans in Congress in denouncing the election as fraudulent, and spread misinformation about the ballot counting process in Georgia.
- On Dec. 10, 2020, Brooks signed an amicus brief in a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the presidential election in four swing states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin..
- On Dec. 17, 2020, Brooks and 18 other congressional Republicans sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and other congressional committee heads requesting that Congress investigate the election.
- In public appearances and on his social media accounts, Brooks claimed that the Democratic Party had committed “election theft.”
- In his December 2020 announcement that he would challenge the results of the election, Brooks claimed that “if only lawful votes cast by American citizens are counted, Donald Trump won the Electoral College.”
- In the months following the election, Brooks doubled down on claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election, alleging that fraud is systemic and ongoing and an intentional policy of the Democratic Party.
Election Audits
- Although the Arizona election audit failed to demonstrate evidence of systemic voter fraud, Brooks claimed that it had in fact proven election improprieties.