Rep. Mo Brooks, the leading Republican contender for Senate in Alabama, is expressing empathy for the suspect who was arrested after the person allegedly threatened to detonate multiple explosives on Capitol Hill.
Brooks is favored to win the nomination and succeed retiring Republican Sen. Richard Shelby on the strength of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. But the congressman’s prepared statement on North Carolina resident Floyd Ray Roseberry, who surrendered to Capitol Police after a five-hour standoff, could become fodder for his opponents in the GOP Senate primary.
In the statement, Brooks, 67, capitalized “socialism” and, amid some confusing grammar, appeared to empathize with a frustration with the federal government that might have allegedly motivated Roseberry to threaten the Capitol and its surrounding buildings with bombs. The standoff with law enforcement occurred outside of the Library of Congress, adjacent to the Capitol.
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Brooks’s statement, posted to Twitter, reads as follows:
“I’m aware of the Capitol Bomb threat. I’m monitoring the situation. I am in Alabama. My Washington staff is accounted for and safe. I pray for the safety of Capitol Police and first responders on the scene in Washington. Sadly, violence and threats of violence targeting American political institutions are far too common. Although this terrorist’s motivation is not yet publicly known, and generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society. The way to stop Socialism’s march is for patriotic Americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 elections. I strongly encourage patriotic Americans to do exactly that now more than ever before. Bluntly stated, America’s future is at risk.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, quote-tweeted Brooks’s statement, calling it “evil.”
The field of Republicans running for Senate in Alabama in 2022 includes Brooks, who sought the office in a 2003 special election but came up short; Lynda Blanchard, the ambassador to Slovenia under Trump; former Shelby chief of staff Katie Britt; and former congressional candidate Jessica Taylor.
Most of the Republicans who are opposing Brooks in the primary are coalescing around Britt, who raised more than $2 million during the first few weeks of her campaign.
Brooks has a history of making provocative statements, but that could be an asset with grassroots Republicans in Alabama, one of the most pro-Trump states in the nation.
My statement on the Capitol bomb threat: pic.twitter.com/yCuTNTbJyP
— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) August 19, 2021
