Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) has hired a private investigator in an attempt to serve his colleague Republican Rep. Mo Brooks over the Alabama congressman’s alleged role in the January 6th Capitol siege.
Swalwell is suing Brooks, former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, alleging they helped to deprive Swalwell of his civil rights by encouraging violence among the Capitol siege participants.
Swalwell was in the Capitol at the time of the disruption to Congress’s ratification of the 2020 presidential election.
The move to a private investigator comes as Brooks thus far has been able to evade service in the suit on account of heightened security in the Capitol, making it difficult for outsiders to get in to Congressional offices.
Brooks previously has condemned the violence on January 6th.
“The violence at the U.S. Capitol today is despicable, un-American, and tears at the fabric of our great republic,” said Brooks in the wake of the riot. “The scenes of United States Capitol Police being violently attacked and mobs occupying the American seat of government are highly disturbing.”
But Democrats say that Brooks gave a speech at the Capitol in front of a crowd that encouraged people to “riot,” saying “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
Brooks is a proponent of the idea that the election was “stolen” from Trump, and voted to not ratify certain states’ electoral votes.
Brooks also voted against a commission of Congress to investigate the siege.
An attorney for Swalwell argued to allow US Marshals to serve Brooks in the suit, saying their private investigator spent “many hours over many days in April and May at locations in multiple jurisdictions attempting to locate and serve Brooks” without success.
The judge denied the request use of US Marshals, while granting a Swalwell a 60-day extension to serve Brooks in the lawsuit.
