Former President Donald Trump withdrew his endorsement of Republican Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama’s hotly contested Senate race on Wednesday, prompting the lawmaker to accuse Mr. Trump of having tried within the past six months to “remove” President Biden from office and hold a new special presidential election.
Mr. Trump said he rescinded his support for Mr. Brooks because the lawmaker called for voters to move on from the 2020 presidential election that Mr. Trump lost.
“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 irregularities,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.
Mr. Brooks responded to the snub by claiming that Mr. Trump pulled the endorsement because the lawmaker refused to bow to Mr. Trump’s demands to undo the 2020 election.
He said Mr. Trump tried to get him to “immediately remove” Mr. Biden from the White House and hold a new special presidential election, demands that Mr. Brooks said he could not abide. The lawmaker told ABC News that Mr. Trump has made the request of him “off and on since September 2021.”
“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,” Mr. Brooks said in a statement. “As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 [2021] was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permits what President Trump asks. Period.”
SEE ALSO: Trump pulls endorsement of fading Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama Senate race
The Jan. 6 event was when Congress counted the Electoral College votes certifying Mr. Biden’s victory. A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the vote-counting, and Mr. Brooks had spoken at a pro-Trump rally in Washington just before the attack at the Capitol.
At the time, Mr. Brooks was one of the most vocal lawmakers in Congress supporting Mr. Trump’s claims that the election was stolen from him. He told the crowd on Jan. 6, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking a—.”
The lawmaker, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, has said he “led the charge” prior to Jan. 6 in the efforts to overturn the election. But he said Wednesday that his disagreement with Mr. Trump’s later efforts to undo the election is the real reason that Mr. Trump withdrew his endorsement.
“I’ve told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement,” he said. “But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.”
“I repeat what has prompted President Trump’s ire,” Mr. Brooks said. “The only legal way America can prevent 2020’s 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 give us honest and accurate elections.”
Mr. Trump, who easily carried Alabama in the 2020 presidential election, said he will announce a new choice in the GOP Senate primary soon.
SEE ALSO: Rep. Mo Brooks says Trump went too far, wanted him to ‘remove’ Biden from presidency
The feud is exposing a larger rift in the GOP, at least in the Alabama Senate race. The conservative Club for Growth, an ally of Mr. Trump, said Wednesday that it still supports Mr. Brooks in the primary.
“Club for Growth PAC stands by our endorsement of Mo Brooks, and we believe he is the only principled, pro-growth conservative in the race,” said President David McIntosh.
The comments by Mr. Brooks that sparked Mr. Trump’s ire came at a Trump rally in Alabama last August. The lawmaker was roundly booed when he told the crowd, “There are some people who are despondent about the voter fraud and election theft in 2020. Folks, put that behind you. Look forward. Beat them in 2022. Beat them in 2024.”
When the boos grew louder, Mr. Brooks said, “Well, look back at it, but go forward and take advantage of it.” His campaign followed it up immediately with statements that Mr. Brooks supported 2020 election audits and would fight voter fraud.
But reviving the comments now gave Mr. Trump the opportunity to bail on Mr. Brooks, who is trailing two other GOP candidates in the Senate primary to replace the retiring Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. A Gray Tv/Alabama Daily News poll this week showed Mr. Brooks a distant third behind businessman Mike Durant and former Shelby Chief of Staff Katie Britt.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Brooks’ Senate campaign was “unstoppable” until “he hired a new campaign staff who ’brilliantly’ convinced him to ’stop talking about the 2020 Election.’”
“He listened to them. Then, according to the polls, Mo’s 44-point lead totally evaporated all based on his ’2020’ statement made at our massive rally in Cullman, Alabama,” Mr. Trump said. “When I heard his statement, I said, ’Mo, you just blew the Election, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ I don’t think the great people of Alabama will disagree with me.”
The former president said election fraud “must be captured and stopped, or we won’t have a Country anymore.”
Mr. Brooks said the former president is allowing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, to outmaneuver him politically.
“It’s disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again,” he said. “Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies. I wish President Trump wouldn’t fall for McConnell’s ploys, but, once again, he has.”
He said, “I have not changed. I am the only proven America First candidate in this Senate race. I am the only candidate who fought voter fraud and election theft when it counted, between November 3 and January 6. I’m still the most conservative candidate in the race.”
He said the campaign of GOP rival Katie Britt “is supported and funded by McConnell allies, and she’s still a high taxing, open borders, cheap foreign labor, Chamber of Commerce lobbyist.”
“There’s only one conservative option in this race, and I am confident that the people of Alabama will see that on Election Day,” he said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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