Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said on Wednesday that the socialist Democrats, fake-news media and RINO “Surrender Caucus” must apologize and retract their false claims blaming him for the Jan. 6 US Capitol uprising.
Brooks participated in the Save America Rally, during which the Left and its allies claimed GOP leaders had incited the subsequent violence at the nearby Capitol.
House Democrats used the bogus allegations to file an impeachment do-over against former president Donald Trump—although the article failed, yet again, to clear the Senate.
However, witnesses in a series of follow-up House committee hearings have confirmed that the rally could not have provoked those in attendance since the raid on the Capitol was coordinated in advance.
Now that testimony has shown that the Capitol intrusion was “preplanned and coordinated,” Brooks said no evidence supported the statements of those who “sullied my good name by accusing me of inciting violence,” according to a press release.
“The evidence is overwhelming and vindicates me and President Trump,” Brooks said. “The Capitol Attack was preplanned and coordinated by militant elements of various political groups. These were not peaceful protestors.”
Despite fighting language typical at Democrat and Republican political rallies, he said that he encouraged “rally attendees to seek redress at the ballot box in the 2022 and 2024 elections and never, in any way, shape or form, asked rally attendees to engage in any violent behavior at the U.S. Capitol.”
Brooks cited numerous commentators, journalists, and politicians who failed to wait for the investigation to conclude before defaming him.
The Lincoln Project stated in a video, “This is your coup, Mo Brooks … And you will be held accountable.”
NeverTrump Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote that Brooks’s speech at the rally on Jan. 6 helped incite “the attack on the U.S.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., introduced a House resolution to censure Brooks.
“Not only did Congressman Brooks’ fuel an insurrection against the body he serves in, his words helped spark chaos, destruction, injuries and death,” she claimed.
Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-NJ, who also sponsored the resolution, said, “Representative Brooks’ actions encouraged and fueled the mob.”
MSNBC Host Andrea Mitchell asked DC Attorney General Karl Racine in a television interview: “What about Don Jr., what about Rudy Giuliani, and other—Mo Brooks, a member of Congress—can they be prosecuted for inciting a riot?”
Alabama political reporter Bill Britt compared Brooks to Taliban terrorists and said he wants to impose a “religious order with Taliban-style justice.”
And the list goes on.
Brooks encouraged Americans to allow investigations of the Capitol attack play out before drawing conclusions.
“The Fake News Media (looking to increase their ratings, readership, and profits), Socialist Democrats (looking to capitalize politically on the tragic events), and RINO ‘Surrender Caucus’ Republicans (looking to improve their past dismal showings in GOP primaries) refused to heed my advice,” he said.
Brooks cited evidence from House and Senate hearings to show that his speech on Jan. 6 did not inspire violence.
Steven Sund, then-chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, listed his evidence of the preplanned event.
“One, these people came specifically with equipment,” he said.
Moreover, “the fact that the group that attacked our West Front attacked our West Front 20 minutes—approximately 20 minutes—before the event over at the Ellipse [where Brooks and Trump spoke] ended” further supported the idea of a premeditated attack, Sund said.
“And then also the fact that we were dealing with two pipe bombs that were specifically set right off the edge of our perimeter to, what I suspect, draw resources away,” he added.
Michael Stenger, then-U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms, and Paul Irving, then-U.S. House sergeant-at-arms, agreed with Sund’s assessment.
“If any of these defamers are honorable and honest, they will” apologize and retract their statements,” Brooks said. “However, for obvious reasons, I will not hold my breath awaiting their apology.”
