Trump Drops Endorsement of Mo Brooks for Alabama Senate Seat
Former President Donald Trump has rescinded his endorsement of Alabama Representative Mo Brooks in his run for the US Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Richard Shelby after Brooks's comments at an August rally in Alabama concerning the events of January 6, 2021.
“I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate,” Trump said in a statement. “I don’t think the great people of Alabama will disagree with me. Election Fraud must be captured and stopped, or we won’t have a Country anymore. I will be making a new Endorsement in the near future!
“Mo Brooks was a leader on the 2020 Election Fraud and then, all of sudden, during the big rally in Alabama, he went “woke” and decided to drop everything he stood for—when he did, the people of Alabama dropped him, and now I have done so also. The people get it, but unfortunately, Mo doesn’t."
At the Cullman rally, Brooks urged Alabama voters to move on from the alleged voter fraud of the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6 and instead move forward with eyes on winning in 2022 and 2024.
"There are some people who are despondent about the voter fraud and election theft in 2020...Beat them in 2022, beat them in 2024," he said at the rally. He was booed by the crowd.
Trump told The Washington Examiner he would "have to find out what he means" and re-evaluate his endorsement in the Senate race.
“If it meant what he sounded like, I would have no problem changing [my endorsement] because when you endorse somebody, you endorse somebody based on principle," Trump said. "If he changed that principle, I would have no problem doing that.”
Brooks responded to the former president's decision by pointing blame at Minority Leader of the US Senate Mitch McConnel, who he pledged to "fire" if elected.
“It’s disappointing that, just like in 2017, President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again,” Brooks said in a Twitter thread. “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."
Brooks said he hasn't changed saying, "I am the only candidate who fought voter fraud and election theft when it counted, between November 3 and January 6."
Brooks expanded upon what was asked of him in the fallout of the 2020 election saying, “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. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.”
As for where Trump could turn next, both Mike Durant and Katie Britt have overtaken Brooks in a recent poll by Alabama Daily News and Gray Television, with Durant holding a six-point lead in the Senate race. The primaries will be held on May 24.