Republican Rep. Mo Brooks said Wednesday that he was stripped of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement for U.S. Senate in Alabama because he refused to bow to Mr. Trump’s demands to undo the 2020 election.
He said Mr. Trump tried to get him to “immediately remove” President Biden from the White House and hold a new special presidential election, demands that Mr. Brooks said he could not abide.
“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.”
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 in Congress supporting Mr. Trump’s claims that the election was stolen from him.
The lawmaker said their disagreement is the real reason that Mr. Trump withdrew his endorsement of Mr. Brooks earlier on Wednesday.
“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 said he pulled his endorsement because Mr. Brooks told supporters at a rally last August to move on from the former president’s claims of a stolen 2020 election.
Mr. Brooks, an ardent Trump supporter until now, 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.”
SEE ALSO: Trump pulls endorsement of fading Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama Senate 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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