(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) The New York Times salivated over the possibility that Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., could provide documents to the House’s Jan. 6 Committee implicating former President Donald Trump in a treasonous plot to change the 2020 presidential election’s results.
Brooks, a longtime Trump ally, lost his endorsement for the upcoming race to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., because he told Americans to stop worrying about the widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election according to a statement from Trump.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went “woke” and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, “Put that behind you, put that behind you,” despite the fact that the Election was rife with fraud and… pic.twitter.com/UuvVAGWnsa
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) March 23, 2022
Brooks also has been trailing considerably in polling and fundraising behind two other GOP primary contenders and has run what many consider to be a lackluster campaign.
Support for him in Alabama’s GOP primary has collapsed, falling from 60% in May 2021 to about 15% in March 2022.
On Wednesday, Brooks reacted to Trump’s rebuke with a statement of his own, claiming that Trump had repeatedly asked for him to “rescind” the election, although it is unclear under what authority Trump thought the Alabama congressman had the ability to do so.
“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 in a statement.
Brooks added that Trump requested these steps on “multiple occasions” since Sept. 1, 2021.
The New York Times speculated that this feud might cause Brooks to turn on Trump and unveil private conversations from “before, during and after” the Jan. 6 protest that could lead to Trump’s indictment.
“It marked the first time a lawmaker who was involved in Mr. Trump’s attempts to invalidate his election defeat has said that Mr. Trump asked for actions that, were they possible, would violate federal law,” claimed the Times.
Trump’s closest allies, including Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, have refused to cooperate with the House investigation, so Brooks’s resentment could provide the ammunition that Democrats and NeverTrumpers need.
Brooks fought with Trump for election integrity “between Nov. 3 and Jan. 6″—the time that “counted,” he said—but that time has since passed.
He acknowledged that Trump’s endorsement rested on his decision to support efforts to rectify the 2020 election results, but he said he does not believe that the Senate has the power to reconsider a fraudulent election.
“As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that Jan. 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period,” he said.
Trump said in his statement that he would endorse a new candidate in the Republican primary.
Decorated U.S. Army pilot (retired) Michael Durant currently leads in the polls with 35% support.
Katie Britt, the former chief of staff to incumbent Richard Shelby, is in second place with about 28% support.
It is not the first time Trump has waded into Alabama’s Senate race to undermine a former ally. He prominently snubbed his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in favor of former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville to fill the seat that Sessions had resigned to accept the role.
Like Brooks, Sessions found himself the target of Trump’s ire for asserting constitutional limits to his authority—in Sessions’s case resulting from his recusal in the Russia-collusion hoax.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
