Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks, who was on the House floor last Wednesday leading the push to reject Electoral College votes when protesters stormed the Capitol, today picked apart a politically charged bid by Democrats to silence him and hold him responsible for the violence.
In a lengthy statement challenging the censure proposed by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, the lawmaker hit “scurrilous fake news media and Socialist Democrat attacks” that he said were meant to censor and suppress his free speech.
“Let’s be clear, this entire smear campaign is about intimidating, censoring and suppressing the ability of American citizens to fight at the ballot box the efforts of Socialist Democrats to seize control of the United States of America,” he said.
I defend my honor and reputation. Read my statement: https://t.co/UukqxhoiMG
— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) January 12, 2021
At issue is the speech he gave at a pro-Trump rally near the White House that preceded the march on the Capitol that left a U.S. Capitol Police officer and a protester and Air Force veteran dead.
The censure proposal suggests that Brooks helped to stir up the violence, but in his statement, he said he played no role and that his comments were taken out of context by his foes.
For example, it quotes him as saying, “Today is the day patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
But, said Brooks, he was talking about winning the House and Senate back in 2022. All Wasserman Schultz and Malinowski had to do was read his speech.
“While I did utter those words, what is deceitfully omitted is the immediately preceding sentence, that begins with, ‘But let’s be clear, regardless of today’s outcome, the 2022 and the 2024 elections are right around the corner,’” he said.
I’ve introduced a resolution, with @DWStweets, to formally censure Congressman Mo Brooks, who, on the morning of January 6th, incited the crowd that attacked the Capitol, endangering the lives of his fellow members of Congress. pic.twitter.com/9RstKR29Jn
— Tom Malinowski (@Malinowski) January 11, 2021
“I was not encouraging anyone to engage in violence. I was encouraging people to begin a 2022 and 2024 election fight!” he said.
He was also hit for speaking to extremist groups in the audience. But the problem with that, he said, is he didn’t know who was in the audience and only got invited to speak the day before.
And he ripped the resolution language suggesting that he wanted to injure House members and staff. “I was in the House Chamber when the attack began! The idea that I would encourage and incite violence on myself, my friends, and my colleagues is absurd,” he said.
In fact, it was Brooks who thought up the whole plan to challenge electoral votes of states that the Trump campaign and others were questioning for voter and ballot fraud. He gave several speeches on the House floor explaining his plans weeks before last week’s action.
In his statement, he notes that it has been the Democrats who have encouraged violence ever since Trump was elected.
And he offered no apology.
“Socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies won’t get an apology from me because my remarks were not wrong. Conversely, the Socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies should be apologizing to the public for the egregiously and manipulative way they have deceived the public on this issue.
“Rest assured; I will never apologize for fighting to win our causes at the ballot box. That is the American way!” he said.
