Brooks, Mo Rep

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=&nbsp;</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">primary 8 22 big lie leadership
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wore puffy coat to hide bullet vest 1/6&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">subpoena by 1/6? asked for pardon?&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>asked for pardon, worked with finchem/townsend AZ, biggs, gosar</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/mo-brooks-gives-an-angry-bitter-concession-speech-following-primary-opponents-victory-america-quite-clearly-lost/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/mo-brooks-gives-an-angry-bitter-concession-speech-following-primary-opponents-victory-america-quite-clearly-lost/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix interesting 2a poster 2 ethnic? women smiling]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>flanked/trumped</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/mo-brooks-loyalty-donald-trump/">https://www.alternet.org/<b>2022/06/</b>mo-brooks-loyalty-donald-trump/</a></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 6 22</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div><b>MAGA extremists are freaking out over Trump’s endorsement in Alabama Senate race</b></div><div>
</div><div>[Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama speaking at the 2021 Southern Regional Conference, hosted by<b> Turning Point USA </b>at the Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf & Spa Resort in Panama City Beach, Florida, Gage Skidmore</div><div>Alex Henderson June 13, 2022</div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>On Friday, June 10, former President Donald Trump endorsed Katie Britt over Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama’s GOP U.S. Senate primary — exalting her as a “fearless America First warrior</b>.”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Trump was once an ally of Brooks; now, he is slamming the Alabama congressman as “woke.” But some MAGA Republicans disagree strongly with Trump’s endorsement of Britt, including former Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson and Fox News host Mark Levin.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>On Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, Levin angrily wrote, “This is a gut punch. Very disappointing. Britt is a McConnell-supported RINO praised by the head of the Alabama Democrat Party.</b>&nbsp;I hope Mo can pull it off. Lord knows, we need his conservative voice and vote in the Senate.”</div><div>
</div><div>On Twitter, Pierson linked to a March 8 article in Breitbart that accuses Britt of surrounding herself with Never Trump conservatives. Pierson wrote, “This Katie Britt?”</div><div>
</div><div>Britt has been the frontrunner in the primary, which has gone to a runoff. Candidate Mike Durant was in third place in the initial primary election, but Britt and Brooks were close enough in the vote count for them to go to a runoff that will be held on June 21.</div><div>
</div><div><b>In his endorsement of Britt, Trump argued, “The opposition says Katie is close to Mitch McConnell, but actually, she is not — in fact, she believes that McConnell put Mike Durant in the race to stop her, which is&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">very possibly</span>&nbsp;true.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>Writer Ryan Girdusky is another MAGA Republican who is angry that Trump endorsed Britt. On June 10, Girdusky tweeted, “Oh fuck off. Mo is the one.”</div><div>[grfx]</div><div>
</div><div>The Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo, in an article published on June 12, observes, “The endorsement of Britt comes at a critical time for both campaigns. The primary runoff is in less than two weeks after neither candidate could secure 50% of the vote in the primary race. In April 2021, Trump endorsed Brooks, only to revoke the endorsement after Brooks urged Trump supporters to move on from claims that the 2020 election was ‘stolen.’”</div><div>
</div><div><b>Brooks is pointing out how much flip-flopping Trump has done in Alabama’s Republican U.S. Senate primary.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Petrizzo quotes Brooks as saying, “This is weird: last time Donald Trump talked about Katie Britt, he said she was unqualified for the Senate. Donald Trump is the only man in American politics who could get conned by Mitch McConnell twice in an Alabama Senate race.”</span></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.americanoversight.org/in-the-documents-new-details-about-the-origins-of-the-arizona-senates-discredited-election-audit">https://www.americanoversight.org/in-the-documents-new-details-about-the-origins-of-the-arizona-senates-discredited-election-audit</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">many lnx some gfx</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PUBLISH DATE:&nbsp;<b>MARCH 7, 2022</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">IN THE DOCUMENTS: NEW DETAILS ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE ARIZONA SENATE’S DISCREDITED ELECTION ‘AUDIT’</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Efforts to undermine the 2020 election results in Arizona led to the state Senate’s sham “audit” of votes cast in Maricopa County, which furthered lies about voter fraud and galvanized Big Lie proponents to undertake similar election-undermining exploits in other states. While officials claimed the review was designed to restore confidence in election integrity and expose purported fraud, documents uncovered through American Oversight’s public records litigation pointed to its origins in baseless conspiracy theories and post-election efforts to subvert the results of a free and fair election.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Below are additional details from American Oversight’s review of more than 80,000 pages of “audit”-related records released by the Arizona Senate in August 2021 in response to our ongoing lawsuit. The records include communications of state Sen. Kelly Townsend about the scheme to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory by appointing false, pro-Trump Arizona presidential electors, as well as emails from Senate President Karen Fann regarding her selection of the firm Cyber Ninjas to conduct the “audit.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>TOWNSEND’S RESOLUTION AND EFFORTS TO APPOINT ALTERNATE ELECTORS</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The documents contain a December 2020 letter signed by Townsend, who had just been elected to the state Senate, addressed to then-Vice President Mike Pence asking that he “not accept” Arizona’s valid electors during the Jan. 6 congressional certification of the election results. It’s unclear whether Pence received the letter<b>, but Townsend’s letter appears to be similar to one sent by state Rep. Jake Hoffman the day before the certification that, as reported recently by the Arizona Republic, also asked the vice president not to accept the state’s electoral votes</b>.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Townsend’s letter is dated Dec. 31, 2020. That same day, she shared it in an email to Ron Hooper of the nonprofit U.S. Term Limits and investor Bradley Rotter and asked for feedback. Rotter replied,&nbsp;<b>copying conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi as well as someone named Phil Cannon: “Please meet Corsi Undergrounder Phil Cannon who can get your letter to Keith Kellogg who is the Natl Security Advisor to the VP.”&nbsp;</b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The letter to Pence also referenced the “alternate slate of electors” sent by Arizona on Dec. 14, 2020, the day Arizona and multiple other states submitted forged electoral certificates to Congress, seeking to overturn Biden’s victory by falsely claiming their states’ electoral votes went to Trump.</b>&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">On Jan. 5, 2021, Townsend introduced a resolution in the Arizona Senate to revoke Biden votes and appoint the alternate electors, among whom were Hoffman and Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward.&nbsp;</span><b>That same day, Townsend followed up on her email with a link to the resolution, writing, “This resolution to appoint the alternate slate of electors is prepared and ready for the election audit findings, should they result in what I expect to happen.”</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;In December, state Senate leaders had issued subpoenas to Maricopa County demanding the release of ballots cast, voting machines, voter rolls, and other election information.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The records obtained by American Oversight also reveal that the office of&nbsp;</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks — a congressman from Alabama who on Jan. 6 gave an inflammatory speech to Trump supporters outside the White House — was actively seeking information that could be used to challenge election results. On Dec. 22, 2020, a Brooks staffer emailed&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;indicating that the office was “putting together a master memo on the valid grounds” for objecting to the Electoral College certification.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The staffer also asked Finchem for a memo detailing “allegations of fraud and other election irregularities” from a meeting involving Rudy Giuliani that had been held on Nov. 30 in Phoenix. Later that day, a Townsend staffer sent a copy of Townsend’s resolution to<b>&nbsp;Brooks’ office, asking to be notified once it was “submitted to Congress.”&nbsp;</b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">On Jan. 5, Finchem c</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">irculated another letter addressed to Pence regarding the “reclamation of Electoral College Electors from Arizona,” signed by Finchem, Townsend, and other Arizona House and Senate members. State Sen. Sonny Borrelli</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;forwarded the letter to Phillip Jauregui, the head of the conservative advocacy organization Judicial Action Group, writing: “Mark has the most updated list” — likely referring to the list of lawmakers signing the letter and resolution. Jauregui, who is based in Birmingham, Alabama, was later invited to the July 2021 election integrity call that included numerous election deniers across the country, including Finchem, Townsend, Brooks, and Brooks aide Madison Engelking.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>FANN’S CORRESPONDENCE WITH CONSTITUENTS ON CHALLENGING THE ELECTION</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Dec. 13, 2020, in response to a constituent who demanded that the state Legislature “decertify” the election results, Arizona Senate President Fann said that she had met with a “nationally accredited constitutional attorney” and that lawmakers needed evidence of “clear fraud.”&nbsp;</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“With respect to the US Constitution Article 2 and 3 provisions,” Fann wrote, “we spent an hour and a half with a nationally accredited constitutional attorney which was extremely interesting and I learned a lot. He stated that the ‘plenary clause’ allowing us to convene ourselves with a simple majority applies ‘when there is no clear winner of an election.’”&nbsp;</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The records do not indicate the name of the attorney who spoke with Fann, but the idea that state legislatures, rather than the popular vote, could determine the winner of the election was frequently espoused by Trump allies. In a now-famous memo prepared around that time, Trump-allied lawyer&nbsp;<b>John Eastman</b>&nbsp;outlined a plan for Pence to reject the results from states with “dual slates of electors,” writing that Article II granted state legislatures “the plenary power to determine the manner for choosing presidential electors.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>In her email, Fann added that there had “been no proof provided to the courts” of significant voter fraud, but that the Senate was “committed to pursuing these claims” through an “audit” of Maricopa County, and referred to Jan. 6 as a deadline for altering the election’s results.</b>&nbsp;“We are hoping any substantiated information from any state regarding voter fraud can be brought and verified by January 6th, 2021 when congress convenes to give the final ‘blessing’ on the election. That would be one of our last options to make a difference in the outcome of the 2020 election.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>FANN ON SELECTING CYBER NINJAS</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In response to a July 2021 press inquiry from a far-right media outlet, Fann provided details about the process of hiring the firm Cyber Ninjas to conduct the election “audit,” which had begun in April.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Fann told the reporter that early in the process, she had asked the Federal Election Commission for a list of “certified forensic election auditors,” a designation that does not appear to exist.&nbsp;</b>Cyber Ninjas had no election experience prior to the “audit,” and is not one of the two firms accredited by the Election Assistance Commission to certify voting machines; earlier in 2021, those two firms had been hired by Maricopa County to perform an audit of voting equipment and confirmed that the votes had been counted accurately.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fann described reaching out to “people in other states who were already talking about audits” and asking contacts for recommendations. “It was part of this process that [Cyber Ninjas CEO] Doug Logan’s name came up along with many other referrals,” Fann wrote. “I was told Mr Logan was the gentleman working with the issues in Atrium [sic] County and Fulton County.”&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Fann was likely referring to Michigan’s Antrim County,&nbsp;</b>the home of a debunked report on fraud. But it is unclear from the email whether she is referring to Pennsylvania’s Fulton County — where the firm Wake TSI, which later joined Cyber Ninjas’ audit team in Arizona, conducted partisan audits of election equipment — or to Georgia’s Fulton County, home to Atlanta and a target of voter-fraud conspiracy theories. But the mention of efforts in other states to dig up evidence of purported fraud is yet another illustration of how activists and conservative allies across the country were often working together, with the same contractors and election conspiracy theorists. American Oversight is investigating similar efforts to undermine faith in our democracy in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Texas.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FANN EMAILS REGARDING TRUMP LEGAL TEAM</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In other emails to constituents who complained that the election had been compromised, Fann often referred to the Trump legal team’s efforts and the hunt for evidence of significant fraud.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an email sent Nov. 29, 2020, Fann wrote, “We have to show some credible evidence for ‘fraud’ before the courts or anyone else can do anything. I have asked the Trump legal team MANY times to please bring us their proof of fraud so we may act on it. To date they have not provided any proof.”&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Nov. 30, she wrote, “We have asked the Trump team to please supply the information to us and to please file a lawsuit so we can address this properly according to state laws. To date this information or lawsuit has not been provided in writing.”&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>To date, American Oversight has uncovered more than 100,000 pages of records from Arizona’s election “audit.” Previous findings — including Fann’s claim that she had received a personal call from Trump thanking her for her efforts — are available here.</b>&nbsp;Our investigation is ongoing, and we are continuing to pursue the release of records held by both the Senate and Cyber Ninjas. Read more about that litigation here.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Part of Investigation:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Attacks on Voting Rights in Arizona</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Arizona Senate’s Partisan Audit of Maricopa County Election Results</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The ‘Alternate Electors’ Plot to Overturn the 2020 Election</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">----</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">links</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The letter to Pence also referenced the “alternate slate of electors” sent by Arizona on Dec. 14, 2020, the day Arizona and multiple other states submitted&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.americanoversight.org/fake-electoral-certificates-obtained-by-american-oversight-draw-renewed-scrutiny" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">forged electoral certificates</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to Congress,&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">seeking to overturn Biden’s victory by falsely claiming their states’ electoral votes&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20493986-nara-records-regarding-invalid-elector-slates-nara-21-0174-a#document/p3" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">went to Trump</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">On Jan. 5, 2021, Townsend&nbsp;</span><a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/arizona-lawmaker-introduces-measure-trying-to-divert-states-electoral-votes-to-trump/article_0d234193-2de9-57b8-8501-0bb1bc49106f.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">introduced</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://legiscan.com/AZ/text/SCR1002/id/2227864" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">resolution</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;in the Arizona Senate to revoke Biden votes and appoint the alternate electors, among whom were Hoffman and Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward. That same day, Townsend followed up on her email with a link to the resolution,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21052948-final-az-part-1m#document/p1326" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">writing</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, “This resolution to appoint the alternate slate of electors is prepared and ready for the election audit findings, should they result in what I expect to happen.” In December, state Senate leaders had&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/09/24/arizona-audit-timeline-how-we-got-here/8238674002/" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">issued subpoenas</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to Maricopa County demanding the release of ballots cast, voting machines, voter rolls, and other election information.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The records obtained by American Oversight also reveal that the office of <b>U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks </b>— a congressman from Alabama&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/10/mo-brooks-jan6-eric-swalwell-lawsuit-insurrection/" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">who on Jan. 6</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;gave an inflammatory speech to Trump supporters outside the White House — was actively seeking information that could be used to challenge election results.&nbsp;<b>On Dec. 22, 2020, a Brooks staffer&nbsp;</b></span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20493974-arizona-legislature-communications-for-rep-mark-finchem-concerning-capitol-riot-az-rep-21-0139-a#document/p863" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>emailed Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem</b></span></a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>&nbsp;indicating that the office was “putting together a master memo on the valid grounds” for objecting to the Electoral College certification.</b></span></p><div class="embed-documentcloud" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-align: center;"><div id="DC-note-2086464" class="DC-embed DC-embed-note DC-note-container DC-embed-enhanced" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; max-width: 750px;"><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The staffer also asked Finchem for a memo detailing “allegations of fraud and other election irregularities” from a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/30/republican-lawmakers-arizona-hold-meeting-rudy-giuliani/6468171002/" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">meeting involving Rudy Giuliani</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>&nbsp;that had been held on Nov. 30 in Phoeni</b>x. Later that day, a&nbsp;<b>Townsend staffer&nbsp;</b></span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21052948-final-az-part-1m#document/p331" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">sent a copy of Townsend’s resolution</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to Brooks’ office, asking to be notified once it was “submitted to Congress.”&nbsp;</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">On Jan. 5, Finchem circulated another&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21052949-final-az-part-4k#document/p973" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">letter</span></a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;addressed to Pence regarding the “reclamation of Electoral College Electors from Arizona,” signed by Finchem, Townsend, and other Arizona House and Senate members</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.&nbsp;<b>State Sen. Sonny Borrelli</b>&nbsp;</span></span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21052949-final-az-part-4k#document/p972" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">forwarded</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;the letter</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21449153-arizona-senate-records-regarding-communications-between-select-legislators-and-specific-proponents-of-the-big-lie#document/p3" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);">Phillip Jauregui</a>, the head of the conservative advocacy organization<b>&nbsp;Judicial Action Group,</b>&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21052949-final-az-part-4k#document/p972" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">writing:&nbsp;</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">“Mark has the most updated list” — likely referring to the list of lawmakers signing the letter and resolution. Jauregui, who is based in Birmingham, Alabama, was later invited to the July 2021&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21054163-ocr-az-part-6_part-3#document/p986/a2074016" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; text-decoration-line: none; outline-offset: 0.11765em; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(63, 165, 244);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">election integrity call</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that included numerous election deniers across the country, including&nbsp;<b>Finchem, Townsend, Brooks, and Brooks aide Madison Engelking...</b></span></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left;">
</div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ref</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/30/republican-lawmakers-arizona-hold-meeting-rudy-giuliani/6468171002/">https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/30/republican-lawmakers-arizona-hold-meeting-rudy-giuliani/6468171002/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Arizona GOP lawmakers hold meeting on election outcome with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Ryan Randazzo</div><div>Maria Polletta</div><div>Arizona Republic</div><div>
</div><div>President Trump's personal lawyer spent many hours with a handful of Republican Arizona lawmakers at a downtown Phoenix hotel Monday discussing concerns with the 2020 election. Across town, as the meeting wore on, state officials officially certified the results showing the president lost.</div><div>
</div><div>Rudy Giuliani and state lawmakers billed the meeting as a "hearing," but it was not an official legislative event.</div><div>
</div><div>Outside the Hyatt Regency, several hundred Trump supporters filled Second Street between Adams and Monroe, where they waved flags, chanted, sold hats and other Trump merchandise, and showed their support for the president.</div><div>
</div><div>Downtown Phoenix was otherwise eerily quiet, as it has been for most of the pandemic.</div><div>
</div><div>Large screens set up outside the Hyatt lobby broadcast the hearing taking place inside, which some people watched. Others stood on a painter's ladder and used a microphone and gave rallying presentations, alleging fraud in the election, human trafficking cover-ups by Democrats, and denouncing the McCain family. Several carried firearms. Few wore masks.</div><div>
</div><div>Inside the hotel ballroom, Republican lawmakers Mark Finchem, Bret Roberts, Nancy Barto, Leo Biasiucci, David Cook, Kelly Townsend, David Gowan, Sonny Borrelli and Sylvia Allen listened to "witnesses" — who were not placed under oath — as they explained why they thought Arizona's election results were possibly compromised.</div><div>
</div><div>They listened to theories on how elections can be infiltrated.</div><div>
</div><div>Neither the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives nor president of the state Senate authorized the meeting. Republican congressmen Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs attended, sitting behind Giuliani.......</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/10/mo-brooks-jan6-eric-swalwell-lawsuit-insurrection/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Mo Brooks role on Jan. 6 and in lead-up to insurrection faces new scrutiny in Eric Swalwell's lawsuit - The Washington Post</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Mo Brooks urged a Jan. 6 crowd to ‘fight.’ Now his actions long before the insurrection face new scrutiny.</div><div>
</div><div>By Michael Kranish</div><div>Updated January 10, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. EST| Published&nbsp;<b>January 10, 2022&nbsp;</b></div><div>
</div><div>Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) gave a fiery speech to Trump supporters near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)</div><div>In early January 2021, as President Donald Trump summoned his supporters to Washington, Rep. Mo Brooks says he received a dire warning from a fellow lawmaker: Antifa was planning to infiltrate the Jan. 6 rally “dressing like Trump supporters.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>The Alabama Republican was so convinced that his life was in danger that he stopped going home and began sleeping on his office floor. He was there Jan. 5 when, shortly before going to sleep, he tweeted that Trump had asked him “personally to speak & tell the American people about the election system weaknesses that the Socialist Democrats exploited to steal this election.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>The next morning, Brooks slipped into body armor underneath a yellow and black jacket, and then delivered an incendiary speech to a sea of Trump backers near the White House.</div><div>
</div><div>“Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,” Brooks said. “Now, our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives … Are you willing to do the same? My answer is yes. Louder! Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America?”</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks has faced intense scrutiny over his fiery rhetoric that morning to a crowd that soon stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attack.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">But less public attention has been paid to Brooks’s key role in the lead-up to Jan. 6. A review of his speeches, tweets and media appearances as well as affidavits and other court filings reveals his central part in mobilizing the effort to overturn Joe Biden’s victory by repeatedly claiming that the election was stolen and then becoming the first member of Congress to declare he would challenge the electoral college results.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>“I led the charge,” Brooks, 67, said on a podcast hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former adviser. “At first, it was pretty lonely. I was the only one willing to go out on that limb and say, ‘Look, I’ve looked at it, and in my judgment, there was massive voter fraud, election theft.’ ”</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Brooks’s actions are now the subject of a novel lawsuit brought by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.</b>) that accuses him of conspiring with Trump and others to undermine the election and help incite the insurrection. Brooks denied the allegations as he represented himself in U.S. District Court on Monday, arguing that he should be dismissed from the case.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Brooks’s extraordinary efforts to subvert the election were the culmination of a political transformation mirroring the GOP’s larger embrace of Trump. After starting as a traditional conservative, serving as a district attorney and county commission member, Brooks became a leading anti-Trumper in Congress before abruptly turning into one of Trump’s most loyal backers on false claims of mass election fraud.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Now he’s running for the U.S. Senate with Trump’s endorsement and is still campaigning on those falsehoods.&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A leading opponent in the tight primary race has also called for a “nationwide forensic audit” of the election, and claims that the election was stolen are still so popular in Alabama that Brooks was booed at a Trump rally in August when he suggested it was time to look beyond 2020.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate struggles as old and new Republican parties clash in Alabama Senate race</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Brooks has recanted or distanced himself from some of his statements.&nbsp;</b>He has acknowledged that he was wrong to suggest antifa may have played a significant role in the insurrection. And he said in a court filing that his tweet saying Trump “personally” asked him to appear at the rally was false; he blamed an unnamed staffer for the tweet and said the invite came from a White House official.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>The congressional committee investigating the insurrection is weighing whether to seek testimony from Brooks and has cited his invitation to deliver a Jan. 6 speech in a subpoena to the White House official who invited him to the rally. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, said she has long been concerned by her colleague’s words and actions.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“He did publicly say over and over things that were not true,” Lofgren said in an interview. “He said the election had been stolen. That’s not true … He admitted he showed up at the rally in body armor, making really extravagant comments about overturning the election and urging people to take action.”</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks — who has denied any intent to spark the attack on the Capitol and said he was merely urging protesters to battle at the ballot box — declined an interview request. In response to a list of questions from The Washington Post, his campaign spokesman said in a statement via email that Brooks has not received questions from the committee, or talked or corresponded with it.</div><div>
</div><div>“But if Congressman Brooks is asked to testify, the testimony must be in public, not in secret and not denying the American people their right to hear the entirety of testimony by any and all witnesses,” the statement said, lambasting the House’s “Witch Hunt Committee” as politically motivated.</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks’s role is even more remarkable given that until Election Day in 2016, few Republicans had spoken more loudly than Brooks to warn voters that nothing said by Trump should be trusted.</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>
</div><div><b>Before becoming one of President Donald Trump's most loyal backers of false claims of election fraud, Brooks was among the loudest anti-Trump voices in Congress.</b>&nbsp;(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)]</div><div>
</div><div>It was Election Day 1982 in northern Alabama, and Brooks was awaiting the results of his first bid for public office, a seat in the state House. But as the young Duke and University of Alabama School of Law graduate watched the votes come in, something seemed wrong to him. He would later allege that Democrats had rigged 11 out of the 45 voting machines that day “to vote for everyone on the ballot but me.” After he won the race, a rare Republican victory in a then-heavily Democratic state, he dropped the matter.</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks has cited the incident to explain his focus on voter fraud — although journalists have not turned up any findings by state or federal authorities about the claim.</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks served in the Alabama House for nearly a decade before he was appointed in 1991 as district attorney for Madison County. Brooks quickly alienated some staffers by ordering them to emphasize harsher charges for lesser offenses, such as prosecuting shoplifting cases of $25 or more as a felony, according to the news service Al.com. Seven assistant district attorneys quit, most in protest of Brooks’s emphasis on conviction rates. Brooks defended his policy, saying at the time, “I don’t know why some prosecutors feel retailers are a lesser class of victim.”</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Brooks made his way to Washington in 2010, winning a House race after serving on the Madison County commission.</b>&nbsp;When Trump declared his candidacy in 2015, Brooks instead backed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and became a leading Trump attacker. “I don’t think you can trust Donald Trump with anything he says,”&nbsp;</span>Brooks told MSNBC in February 2016.</div><div>
</div><div><b>He slammed Trump as a “serial adulterer” who lacked “moral values,”</b>&nbsp;and told Al.com that even if Trump became the nominee, “I will not publicly support, or endorse with my reputation, someone who I know to have such huge character flaws and is dishonest.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After Trump won, Brooks learned what it meant to be in his disfavor. When Brooks mounted a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in a special election in 2017 — and his anti-Trump rhetoric received new attention — Trump backed an opponent instead.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Brooks soon became a politician transformed, determined to win over Trump — a change his critics attributed to his political ambitions and reading of Alabama’s overwhelming support for Trump.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“He said at one time that he could not imagine Trump being a president,” said former representative Parker Griffith (D), who lost his U.S. House seat to Brooks in 2010. Brooks changed his view, Griffith said in an interview, “because Trump won the Republican primary.”</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks, in a court filing, has attributed his political actions to “my desire to represent the will of my employer,” referring to constituents who overwhelmingly voted for Trump.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Brooks showed the extent of his newfound devotion when Democrats sought to impeach Trump for the first time. On March 25, 2019, Brooks took to the House floor to castigate Democrats by quoting from Adolf Hitler’s memoir, “Mein Kampf,” about the power of using a “big lie” to mislead a gullible public.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Brooks’s speech drew outrage from Jewish groups, including the Alabama Holocaust Commission, whose members are appointed by the governor and other officials. But Brooks not only stood by his invocation of Hitler’s words, he also went after the commission’s members, wondering if they had “joined America’s Socialist Democrats” in embracing the “ 'Big Lie’ … that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 presidential race.”</div><div>
</div><div>Dan Puckett, chairman of the Alabama Holocaust Commission, who was appointed by a Republican governor, said in an interview that there was no basis to Brooks’s allegation.</div><div>
</div><div>“It was shocking to hear ‘Mein Kampf’ quoted on the floor of the House,” Puckett said. “It wasn’t that we were going after anyone. We simply wanted to call out something that was improper.”</div><div>
</div><div>In response to questions about the speech from The Post, Brooks’s spokesman said the congressman “accurately noted the history of the ‘Big Lie’ political tactic and its perfection by the evil Adolph Hitler.”</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>
</div><div><b>Brooks began seeding doubt about the 2020 election months before voters cast ballots.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>The Republican tweeted as early as May that mail-in ballots would create “voter fraud & election theft,” and then wrote on Twitter in September: “USA Beware. Dems seek to steal White House.”</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Days after the Nov. 3 election, as it became increasingly clear Trump had lost, Brooks ratcheted up his claims. He tweeted that he would be “very hesitant” to certify the election if Biden was declared the winner because “I lack faith that this was an honest election.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Then, laying the groundwork to challenge the results, Brooks on Nov. 7 urged Trump “to fight Biden’s unlawful victory claims” and said he would refuse to certify electoral college votes in “states where illegal votes distorted the will of the people.”</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He pressed his case with a litany of unfounded claims. Brooks said, for example, there were “likely in the millions” of noncitizens who cast illegal votes. In Nevada, he said, there were over “130,000 votes identified that were illegal,” adding that “40,000 voted twice” and “you’ve got dead people voting.” (Biden won by 33,596 votes.) He said Georgia poll workers “lied” about their work and hid suitcases of ballots. (Biden won by about 12,000 votes.)</span></div><div>
</div><div>In fact, there was no evidence of significant fraud in any state in the presidential election, a finding twice endorsed by Trump’s then-attorney general, William P. Barr. An array of court challenges to the election have been dismissed.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Then on Dec. 2, Brooks became the first member of Congress to announce that he planned to challenge the electoral college vote on Jan. 6. “Donald Trump won the electoral college by a significant margin, and Congress’s certification should reflect that,” Brooks said. But he needed at least one senator to join him for the challenge to begin.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Day by day, Brooks ratcheted up his rhetoric. Speaking on Fox News Radio on Dec. 3, he said Congress could overturn “election theft,” saying Trump’s supporters needed to emulate the defenders of the Alamo. “We need to stand up and vigorously fight to the last breath,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div><b>“Thank you to Representative Mo Brooks!” Trump tweeted Dec. 3.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>Two weeks later, Ali Alexander, an organizer of the “Stop the Steal” movement, said in a video that he worked with Brooks and other members of Congress to plan how to push lawmakers into blocking Biden’s certification.&nbsp;</b>“We four schemed up of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting,” with a plan to “change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud roar from outside.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>When Brooks was asked about Alexander’s video after the insurrection, his office said the congressman had “no recollection of ever communicating in any way with whoever Ali Alexander is.”</b>&nbsp;But Alexander said in a recent court filing after speaking to the Jan. 6 House committee that he had texted Brooks and had talked with the congressman’s staff. In the wake of that filing, Brooks’s office confirmed that the congressman had in fact received a text from Alexander in mid-December about the group’s protests, which would be capped by events Jan. 6. “Congressman, this is Ali Alexander. I am the founder of Stop the Steal,” the text said. “We stand ready to help. Jan. 6th is a big moment for our republic.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Brooks’s office called it “100 % benign” and said it found no other communication with Alexander. Alexander’s lawyer, G. Baron Coleman, said the text was “normal,” exonerates both men and shows that there was “no talk of seditious plots as speculated by left-wing conspiracy theorists.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>In the following three weeks, several dozen members of Congress joined Brooks in saying they would challenge the election results.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>On Dec. 21, 2020, Brooks went with other Republicans to a White House meeting with Trump and a separate meeting with Vice President Mike Pence,</b>&nbsp;who would preside over the counting of electoral college votes. Brooks told Politico later that day: “It was a back-and-forth concerning the planning and strategy for January the 6th.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Then on Dec. 30, 2020, Brooks got what he needed:&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen Josh Hawley</span>&nbsp;(R-Mo.) said he would join the effort.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Brooks was ecstatic, writing on Facebook that now Congress could “reject the electoral college votes from states with badly flawed election systems.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Jan. 4, 2021, Brooks later said on Twitter, he was told by an unnamed congressman that it would be dangerous to go home. Brooks began sleeping on his office floor that night. “Having been an assassination target on a baseball field in 2017, Congressman Brooks took such advice seriously and spent nights in the Capitol complex,” Brooks’s spokesman said in the statement, referring to a shooting that wounded Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.); the spokesman declined to name the “various congressmen” who allegedly warned Brooks of the threat.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Trump and associates at the White House, meanwhile, discussed who should speak at the rally.<b>&nbsp;On Jan. 5, White House political director Brian Jack invited Brooks</b>. Jack has been subpoenaed by the congressional investigative committee, which noted in a letter that it wanted to know more about Brooks’s invitation. Jack declined to comment.</div><div>
</div><div>The morning of Jan. 6, Brooks put on body armor, he later told Slate, and then gave a 10-minute speech to Trump supporters on the Ellipse, attacking Republicans who refused to make the “simple choice” of refusing to certify the election results<b>. Brooks then returned to the House and tweeted at 1:16 p.m., “FIGHT FOR AMERICA’S REPUBLIC IS ON!”</b></div><div>
</div><div>Hundreds of rally attendees marched to the Capitol, and some began breaking into the building.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As Brooks realized what was happening, he tweeted at 2:18 p.m., “DOORS LOCKED! CAPITOL COMPLEX BREACHED! CHAMBER DOORS LOCKED. SPEAKER LEAVES!” (Brooks later cited his presence in the House as evidence that he didn’t help spark the insurrection. “The idea that I would encourage and incite violence on myself, my friends, and my colleagues is absurd,” he said in a Jan. 12, 2021, statement.)</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Ryan O’Toole, who at the time was cloakroom director for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and now is an aide to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), told CNN that he heard Brooks celebrate. “Members were fearful for their lives. Republican members themselves, men crying in the cloakroom for their safety,” O’Toole said. “<b>One member, Mo Brooks, for example, was glad. He was cheering</b>&nbsp;on the fact that the 117th Congress had started this way, and that was much to the dismay of others in the room.” O’Toole told The Post he stood by his statement and declined further comment.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Brooks denied the allegation, saying in a statement, “This accusation is despicable and total, utter and complete,&nbsp;<b>unadulterated bovine excrement.”</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another hour passed, as Brooks speculated on Twitter that the rioters were members of antifa wearing Trump hats. Later that evening, Brooks told Fox Business, “We did have some advance warning that there might be antifa elements masquerading as Trump supporters in advance of the attack on the Capitol.” Brooks then took the House floor to repeat his allegation without evidence that&nbsp;<b>Democrats had “promoted foreign massive interference” by “helping illegal aliens and other noncitizens vote.”</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><b>After Pence refused to buckle to pressure and certified Biden’s win, Brooks continued describing “mounting evidence” that the insurrectionists were members of antifa. He denied that his speech encouraged anyone to storm the Capitol.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>“I strongly encouraged people to take down names and kick ass in an election way … all those words I used, by the way, are in the Bible,</b>” he said on Matt Murphy’s radio show the day after the insurrection.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">That same day, Brooks wrote on Twitter there were only “3 bad options” when people lose faith in the election: flee the country, submit to the opposition, or “fight back with violence.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>In March, Brooks was pressed about FBI Director Christopher A. Wray’s testimony that he had not seen evidence of antifa’s involvement in the insurrection. After weeks of promoting that claim, Brooks finally backed down.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“So I would agree that the Black Lives Matter and antifa&nbsp;<b>presence to date seems to be relatively insignificant,&nbsp;</b>certainly much less significant than I thought, around Jan. 6, based on the information I had,” Brooks said on CSPAN.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>But Brooks didn’t shy away from perpetuating the claim that the election had been stolen. Asked about Barr’s statement that he had seen no evidence of significant fraud, Brooks responded: “No, that’s false.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>*</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One year after the insurrection, Brooks could soon be forced in federal court — and potentially before the Jan. 6 committee — to clarify his role on that day and answer for his actions in the lead-up. He could be pressed on the extent of his staff’s communication with “Stop the Steal” organizer Alexander, his reason for wearing a bulletproof vest on Jan. 6 and the source of the warning he says he received that the day could turn violent.</span></div><div>
</div><div>As the committee turns to the public phase of its inquiry, it expects to learn more about Brooks’s role in the effort to overturn the election and what led the White House to ask him to speak at the rally. Jack, the former White House political director who invited Brooks, is one of the sources who could provide information.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Alexander, meanwhile, said in a court filing that the committee asked him about his communication with Brooks.</b>&nbsp;He said he testified that he had sent the text message but had no phone conversation with the congressman. He also said he talked to the congressman’s staff about “a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter and how his activists could be helpful.”<b>&nbsp;He said in the court filing that he turned over “thousands of records” to the committee, but he is fighting a request to turn over other material.</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Alexander has also said his role has been misportrayed; he told the committee in a statement that he was not an organizer of the rally at the Ellipse but was a VIP guest, and that his group was part of an event that didn’t take place and “did NOT start the chaos.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Swalwell’s lawsuit, which he filed in U.S. District Court in D.C. in March 2021, alleges that Brooks conspired with Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and the president’s former personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to undermine the election results and that he “directly incited the violence at the Capitol” with his Jan. 6 rally speech</b>. (Swalwell did not respond to a request for comment.)</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In seeking financial damages, Swalwell’s case could provide a pathway to accountability that Congress — which failed to convict Trump in an impeachment trial after the insurrection — so far has not mustered.</span>&nbsp;The Jan. 6 committee also has left open the option of referring information to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.</div><div>
</div><div>Phil Andonian, Swalwell’s lawyer, said in an interview the case is unique because “one member has alleged that another member has engaged in an insurrection with the purpose of invaliding the results of a presidential election.”</div><div>
</div><div>In his court filings, which he signed as his own lawyer, Brooks argued that he should be immune from the lawsuit, citing how the Justice Department has often protected members of Congress from being sued over speech made in an official capacity. But the department has rejected that argument, saying Brooks’s Jan. 6 speech was a campaign-related event, a view that its lawyer echoed during Monday’s hearing. And, the department argued in its brief, if the allegation is true that Brooks incited the insurrection, “Instigating such an attack plainly could not be within the scope of federal employment.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>Brooks’s immunity claim was also opposed by Lofgren</b>, acting in her capacity as chair of the House Administration Committee.</div><div>
</div><div>“By his own admission, he was acting in campaign mode, not as an official act, and that kind of doomed his request,” Lofgren said, referring to Brooks’s statement in a court filing that his speech at the Jan. 6 rally was focused on the need for Republicans to win the 2022 and 2024 elections.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump, who is a defendant in Swalwell’s lawsuit, as well as several others that do not name Brooks, is seeking to dismiss the suit on grounds of presidential immunity and First Amendment rights. Giuliani and Trump Jr. have denied the claims in Swalwell’s suit.</div><div>
</div><div>At Monday’s hearing, conducted virtually, Brooks told the court that he should be dismissed as a defendant because he spoke in his official, not personal, capacity at the Jan. 6 rally.</div><div>
</div><div><b>“My public remarks at the Ellipse rally on January 6th over a mile from the Capitol riot and roughly three to four hours before the Capitol riot started are within the scope of my employment,”</b>&nbsp;Brooks said during the hearing. [// lindsey graham in georgia, judge nixed]</div><div>
</div><div>Whatever claims he made in his tweets and speech, Brooks wrote in a filing laying out his immunity defense, “It makes no difference whether Brooks is right or wrong.”</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">5 22</span></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Election-denying United States Congressman and candidate for Senate Mo Brooks (R-Alabama) gave an off-the-rails interview with MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard on Tuesday in which he repeated the lies that Antifa and Black Lives Matter were the real threat on January 6th, 2021 and that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">First, Hillyard asked Brooks if he would cooperate with the bipartisan House panel investigating the Capitol attack if they requested his testimony.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"If they were to do it under terms and conditions that I believe are more appropriate then certainly I am willing to consider that more so than them trying to subpoena me in the midst of a campaign," Brooks said. "They wanted me to be in Washington, DC taking up a full week last week. That wasn't gonna cut it."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is good cause for that urgency. Brooks was a keynote speaker at Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally at the White House in the hours before thousands of his cultists stormed the Capitol.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hillyard pressed Brooks on this point.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People "heard what you said on January 6th when you took to the stage with body armor on and you said, 'it's time to take names and kick ass<b>.' Why did you have body armor on that day? What did you know?" Hillyard wondered.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Brooks told Hillyard that he was under the impression that "Black Lives Matter or Antifa elements" were planning an assault, even though no credible intelligence indicated that was the case.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"It had nothing to do with pro-Trump supporters," Brooks falsely declared, adding that Trump's spectacles have never led to violence.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/21506029/trump-violence-tweets-racist-hate-speech" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">That too is demonstrably false</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>When Hillyard asked Brooks if he "regrets" using incendiary language, the right-wing lawmaker accused him of "distorting my remarks."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here they are [vid]</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brooks disparaged the January 6th Select Committee as a "propaganda effort" that should have been established by both political parties. But as Hillyard rightly noted, Brooks and most House Republicans voted against forming an independent commission, which Brooks called a "sham."</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Continuing on, Brooks revealed that Trump "did use in our conversations the word<b> rescind"</b> and that "he did talk about being reinstated" after his landslide loss to President Joe Biden.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brooks defended Trump.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If you had had an election stolen from you, you would also want to be reinstated so that justice is done," Brooks said, insisting that "what Donald Trump talked about with me is not illegal in any way, shape, or form."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, it was, because conspiring to or actually disrupting an official congressional proceeding is a felony.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump "has the right to have his view," Brooks contended, "and his view is he ought to be reinstated because the election in his view and mine is that the election was stolen from him in November of 2020<b>. The evidence is overwhelming to me."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brooks also shared that Trump "never said that, to me, that Joe Biden, if all the lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens were counted, Donald Trump has never said Joe Biden won and in my judgment, if only lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens were counted, then Donald Trump won the Electoral College. And if you want to spend an hour or two going through that, I'm more than happy to do so. Be ready for what you hear."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brooks then ordered Hillyard to watch Dinesh D'Souza's&nbsp;<em>2000 Mules</em>&nbsp;"documentary" which further perpetuates the Big Lie.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hillyard, not missing a beat, reminded Brooks that "there is no proof,&nbsp;<em>2000 Mules</em>&nbsp;is not proof, that the election was rigged or that it was stolen."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brooks responded that the "real problem" was the "800,000 to 1.7 million non-citizens that voted in 2020."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hillyard reiterated that "there is no proof that that existed," to which Brooks fired back, "then you haven't done your homework."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>To conclude the interview, Hillyard asked Brooks why he has not yet presented his supposed "evidence" to the January 6th Committee.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Brooks maintained that he has "talked about terms and conditions but the main thing is to make it public. We don't want to do any more of this stuff in secret, clandestinely, where the public cannot see what is truly going on and where the January 6th Commission, which to me is a witch hunt, committee, commission, or committee, gets out there and leaks bits and pieces in order to further a political agenda that may not have anything to do with the truth."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public hearings are scheduled for next month.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch below via CNN senior media correspondent Oliver Darcy:</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn his endorsement of Republican United States Senate candidate Mo Brooks, who was the first lawmaker on Capitol Hill to object to certifying President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Now our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives to give us, their descendants, an America that is the greatest nation in world history. So I have a question for you, are you willing to do the same? My answer is yes. Louder! Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America?" Brooks said in an address at the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the January 6th Capitol insurrection.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Over the last few weeks, however, a rift has opened between Trump and the Alabama Congressman. Brooks no longer wants to relitigate the contest while Trump has been insisting that Brooks continue to explore ways to reinstall him into the presidency.</b></font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a last-ditch effort to remain in Trump's favor, the Brooks campaign on Monday released an ad pledging to oust Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) – whom Trump views as a 'Republican in Name Only' political enemy – from his legislative leadership role.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Today, I unveil my pledge to America to fire&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/people/mitch-mcconnell" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Mitch McConnell</a>. America can’t afford a Senate leader who is a weak-kneed, debt junkie, open-border RINO Republican, and who, worse yet, sells out America for special interest group cash,” Brooks said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unfortunately for Brooks, the gambit failed. On Wednesday, Trump, who views Brooks' refusal to peddle his Big Lie as a personal betrayal, abandoned his erstwhile ally to fend for himself.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"When I endorsed Mo Brooks, he took a 44-point lead and was unstoppable. He then hired a new campaign staff who 'brilliantly' convinced him to 'stop talking about the 2020 Election,'" Trump said in a statement. "Very sad but, since he decided to go in another direction, so have I, and I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate. 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."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brooks, meanwhile, will press on with his bid to replace retiring GOP Senator Richard Shelby in the November midterms. But first, he will have to defeat two right-wing challengers – businesswoman Katie Britt and author Mike Durant – in Alabama's May 24th Republican primary. Without the backing of Trump, though, Brooks is on his own.</font></p><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">split trump endorse opponent? /cya?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">asked mo brooks to rescind election 8 mos after?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/trump-mo-brooks/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/trump-mo-brooks/</a></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prolly 1/6 dem rep hires PI lawsuit&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/mo-brooks/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/mo-brooks/</a>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement July 10, 2021</div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div>U..S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who was one of the very first leaders of Donald Trump's January 6 insurrection, on Friday urged GOP voters at a conservative conference to fight and die for America, just like George Washington's soldiers did at Valley Forge, and telegraphing to them their very "survival" is at stake.</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks was the first member of Congress to declare he would vote against certifying the results of the Electoral College and vote to overturn the free and fair presidential election. On January 6 he also delivered a speech, telling Trump supporters at the Trump-financed, Trump-produced, and Trump-promoted rally prior to the violent attack on the Capitol, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass."</div><div>
</div><div><b>On Friday Brooks told attendees at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, that the "choice is simple: We can surrender and submit. Or we can fight back, as our ancestors have done.</b>"</div><div>
</div><div>The use of the word "ancestors" appears quite intentional, and may have been used in an anti-immigrant whitewashing to make his audience feel even more connected to America's founders.</div><div>
</div><div>"Think for a moment about our ancestors who fought at Valley Forge," Brooks continued, repeated that key word. "They didn't fight the British, they fought for survival."</div><div>
</div><div>"12,000 Continental soldiers arrived, five, six months later 2000 had died. Think about what they went through, burying your brothers, your fathers your sons, 10 to 15 a day, every day for six months."</div><div>
</div><div>"That's the kind of sacrifice that we have to think about and I ask you, are you willing to fight for America? Are you willing to fight for America? Well, the choice is simple: This is how you fight for America. This is what America needs you to do, and you as members of CPAC being here today, you're the corps. You're the ones that have to be the Energizer Bunny."</div><div>
</div><div>Brooks use of the word "corps" can be taken as a military reference, or he could claim he simply meant "core," but either way his speech is yet another example of his attempt to incite violence, as he has been accused of doing on January 6.</div><div>
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</div><div>He concluded his address by again urging conservatives to "fight."</div><div>
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</div><div>FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><div>Mo Brooks obtains arrest warrant for man who served his wife with ... ›</div><div>Mo Brooks snared by local paper over Alabama's Confederate ... ›</div><div>Watch: Footage captures intense moment when Mo Brooks was ... ›</div><div>RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><div>Opinion | Mo Brooks is fine to incite Capitol rioters. But keep your ... ›</div><div>Rep. Mo Brooks says he can't be sued for inciting Capitol riot ... ›</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/mo-brooks-2653466926/" aria-label="Mo Brooks snared by local paper over Alabama's Confederate holidays — after he voted against Juneteenth" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" outline="outline" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Mo Brooks snared by local paper over Alabama's Confederate holidays — after he voted against Juneteenth</font></a></h1><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/rayhartmann" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">Ray Hartmann</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;</span><div class="social-date" style="margin-top: 8px; display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;<span class="social-datetext" style="top: 3px; position: relative; line-height: 1; left: -3px;">June 20, 2021</span></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2653466926" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; text-overflow: ellipsis; overflow: hidden; display: -webkit-box; -webkit-line-clamp: 4; line-height: 31px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mo Brooks, R-AL, provided a reminder this week of why intellectually challenged politicians are best served by not trying to explain their votes.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brooks was one of just 14 Republicans to oppose...</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2649927261/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2649927261/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2649927261/</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>These Republican representatives are accused of helping to plan January 6 insurrection</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar speaking with supporters at the 2018 election eve rally hosted by the Arizona Republican Party at the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona, photo via Gage Skidmore.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mark Sumner and Daily Kos January 13, 2021</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It's obvious that many Republicans—including Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz in the Senate, and dozens in the House, including minority leader Kevin McCarthy—actively inflamed Donald Trump's white supremacist mob and encouraged their deadly assault on the Capitol. However, it now seems that some Republicans in Congress may have done more than knowingly fan the flames. In the days since the rotunda was cleared of debris and the halls were cleaned of the literal human excrement smeared there by Trump's biggest fans, information has appeared that indicates some Republicans may have actively been involved in planning or carrying out the assault.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Tuesday evening, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill conducted a Facebook live session for her constituents during which explained her support resulting in calling on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. During that webcast, Sherrill made an astounding accusation. She claimed to have witnessed Republican members of Congress leading Trump supporters on, not a tour, but a "reconnaissance" of the Capitol. "We can't have a democracy," said Sherrill, "if members of Congress are actively helping the president overturn the elections results."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As reported by USA Today's northerjersey.com, Sherrill's accusation was as astounding as it was direct.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Not only do I intend to see that the president is removed and never runs for office again and doesn't have access to classified material, I also intend to see that those members of Congress who abetted him; those members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5—a reconnaissance for the next day; those members of Congress that incited this violent crowd; those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy; I'm going to see they are held accountable, and if necessary, ensure that they don't serve in Congress."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sherrill has not so far detailed what she means by this reconnaissance, or given names of Republicans who were involved. However, it's become increasingly clear in the days since the insurrection that the situation at the Capitol was much more dire than was originally reported.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The accusations of involvement by Republican members of Congress aren't just coming from Democrats, they're coming from those who were involved in the assault.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As The Washington Post reports, Ali Alexander, the right-wing activist who formed the "Stop the Steal" movement, did so with the help of three Republican members of Congress: Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, and Paul Gosar.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We four schemed up of putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting," said Alexander. Biggs' staff has denied any contact with Alexander—but the involvement of all three Republicans is certainly worthy of investigation.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Completely disowning Alexander's claims could be difficult. He and Gosar appeared together at a "Stop the Steal" rally in Phoenix on December 19. At that same rally, Alexander played a recorded message from Biggs, who he described as a "friend." In both the live and recorded messages, Gosar and Biggs singled out January 6 for action.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Gosar would go on to promote other "Stop the Steal" events more than a dozen times</b>, as well as pumping out tweets and emails promoting the January 6 gathering in D.C.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Typical of Gosar's statements was an op-ed on the site Revolver</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, Gosar called simply counting the legal electoral vote a "Third World coup d'etat." According to Gosar, Biden's win involved "statistically impossible" spikes in the voting and "We will not tolerate this." Far from distancing himself from Alexander's group, Gosar claimed ownership. "As many of you know, I helped organize the very first 'Stop the Steal' rally," he wrote. "… Patriotic warriors joined together to gather evidence and tell the Left we will not accept a coup and a usurper in the White House."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>All three Republicans continued to be involved in "Stop the Steal</b>." As The New York Times reports, In the hours immediately before the assault on the Capitol, Brooks addressed the "Stop the Steal" rally in D.C.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;"Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass," said Brooks. "Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America? Louder! Will you fight for America?"</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gosar, Biggs, and Brooks are far from the only Republicans connected to Alexander's group, or the only ones who both inflamed Trump supporters through lies about the election and demands to attend the January 6 event.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On December 30, Alexander tweeted what would happen if Congress voted to approve the count of the Electoral College vote. "If they do this, everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building. 1776 is always an option." The use of "1776" appeared in a number of statements from hard-line Trump representatives right up to the insurrection. Both Q-supporting Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert directly called the insurrection an "1776 moment."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Tuesday evening, The Washington Post reports that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she feared some of her Republican colleagues would not only open the doors to rioters, but direct them straight to her.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die," she said. "I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive." According to Ocasio-Cortez, she can't go into specifics because of security concerns. But it's clear there were very good reasons to be concerned.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And it's clear that multiple Republicans in both the House and Senate did more than enough to justify removing them from the halls of Congress. In fact, several of them may well deserve a new office—in very small room surrounded by bars.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wednesday, Jan 13, 2021 · 9:27:10 AM Eastern Standard Time · Mark Sumner</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">GOP Sen. Sasse says Trump was 'delighted' about the Capitol riot ... ›</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Woman trampled to death during Capitol riots carried a 'don't tread ... ›</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump supporter found dead in Georgia after being charged in ... ›</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Armed DHS agents were on standby near Capitol riot but weren't ... ›</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After Deadly Capitol Riot, Fox News Stays Silent On Stars ... ›</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Capitol riots: The hunt to identify and arrest the rioters - BBC News ›</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Survey: Should Donald Trump be prosecuted after he leaves office?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">previous post</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Right-wing moms are defending their sons' 'right' to storm the Capitol. Some even joined in</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">next post</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jared Kushner scrambled to stop Trump from joining neo-Nazis' favorite social media app: report</div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://theintercept.com/2021/01/07/capitol-violence-republican-mo-brooks/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN LEGITIMIZES VIOLENCE AS RESPONSE TO ELECTION DISPUTE</font><h2 class="Post-excerpt" data-reactid="180" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.30769; margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-kerning: normal; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" webkit-font-smoothing="webkit-font-smoothing" antialiased="antialiased" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" width="width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., told a conservative talk radio host he has “no regrets.”</font></h2><div class="PostByline byline" data-reactid="181" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-top: 17px; line-height: 1.28571; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; padding-bottom: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="PostByline-names" data-reactid="190" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="PostByline-link" rel="author" href="https://theintercept.com/staff/leefang/" data-reactid="191" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">
Lee Fang</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><br data-reactid="193" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="PostByline-date" data-reactid="194" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 10px;"><span data-reactid="195" style="box-sizing: border-box;">January 7 2021, 6:20&nbsp;p.m.</span></span></div><div class="PartnershipArticle-StandardPost-PostByline" data-reactid="196" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="Post-body" data-reactid="198" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="Post-content-block-outer" data-reactid="209" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 40px;"><div class="GridContainer Post-scroll-container" data-reactid="210" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1160px; position: relative; height: 5461px;"><div class="GridRow" data-reactid="211" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -20px; margin-right: -20px; width: auto !important; height: 5461px;"><div class="Post-content-block" data-reactid="212" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 960px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 20px; float: left; position: relative; z-index: 5; margin-left: 240px; box-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) -1px 0px;"><div class="Post-content-block-inner" data-reactid="213" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; max-width: 100%; margin-right: 230px; padding-right: 10px;"><div class="PostContent" data-reactid="216" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 40px; line-height: 1.5;"><div data-reactid="217" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">REP. MO BROOKS,</span>&nbsp;R-Ala., one of the most outspoken lawmakers in support of Donald Trump’s false claim that the presidential election was stolen, floated the possibility of violence as a reasonable form of political resistance while speaking on local Alabama talk radio today....On Wednesday, Brooks was one of the opening speakers at the “Save America” rally that ended with Trump supporters forcing their way into congressional offices after violent clashes with the U.S. Capitol Police. The riot resulted in dozens of injuries and at least four&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/capitol-breached-protesters/story?id=75081629" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">deaths</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the radio, Brooks defended his participation in the rally the previous day, baselessly charged that there was “mounting evidence of fascist antifa’s involvement in all of this,” and said that those involved in storming Congress should be prosecuted. Brooks did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Intercept.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, the Alabama lawmaker added, he wanted listeners to consider the historical parallels between the United States and Nazi Germany, during which citizens “lost faith in the ballot box.” In his comparison, Brooks called Adolf Hitler’s Germany “socialist."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"You can immigrate from that country, which is what a lot of people did in the 1920s and 1930s in socialist Germany with Adolf Hitler. You can submit, which is also what a lot of people did in Germany. Or, you can resist, often through violence,” said Brooks, who added that “none of those options are good.”</font></span></p></div><div data-reactid="236" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matt Murphy, the radio host, reacted with surprise. “Is education not an option? You didn’t list it,” Murphy asked. “Well, it sounds like you’ve given up on the possibility of helping Pennsylvania repair some of their problems or Georgia repair some of their problems.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When you bring up one of your options to be violence, it brings us directly to your words yesterday, Mo,” Murphy continued. “And I’m wondering if you regret saying what you said at the rally yesterday.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The congressman said he had no regrets.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Listen to Brooks on Murphy’s radio show below:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">brooks is one of a small number of lawmakers claiming without evidence that left-wing agitators had posed as members of the pro-Trump riot to lead the violence on Wednesday.</font></span></p></div><div data-reactid="238" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a series of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wbrc.com/2021/01/07/congressman-mo-brooks-blames-fascist-antifa-violence-us-capitol/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">tweets</a>&nbsp;posted this morning, Brooks claimed he was making that assertion based on an anonymous congressman who was told “on TUESDAY by Capitol Police officer that intelligence suggested fascist ANTIFA was going to infiltrate the Trump rally by dressing like Trump supporters.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brooks’s claims have been thoroughly debunked, and the participants who have been identified thus far are all Trump supporters. The House Administration Committee, which oversees the Capitol Police force, has announced that it will conduct an inquiry into the riot and the response by law enforcement. On Thursday, the chief of the Capitol Police also indicated he would resign.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later in the day today, Brooks again floated violence as a viable response in a series of tweets.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In the past, when citizens of a Republic lose faith in their ability to guide the destiny of their country via the election process, they have been FORCED by that country’s rulers into a box and FORCED to choose from any of 3 bad options,” which include “1. Flee (emigrate). 2. Submit. 3. Fight back with violence. THAT is why we must fight for honest & accurate elections.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The inflammatory rhetoric suggests the Alabama lawmaker has little interest in stepping back from his rhetoric earlier this week. Brooks opened the “Save America” rally with a searing speech that charged, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During his remarks, he asked the crowd to consider the American ancestors who sacrificed their blood and “sometimes their lives” to create the “greatest nation in world history.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“So I have a question for you,” Brooks continued. “Are you willing to do the same?”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 10-minute&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKHwV6sdrMk&ab_channel=TheHill" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">speech</a>&nbsp;included complaints about the results from the Georgia Senate runoff election, in which Democrats won both Georgia seats and control of the Senate, as well as Brooks’s claim that “socialist Democrats attack and mock our moral values,” including the expression of a supposedly “hedonistic prayer” in the “United States Capitol, one of the most revered places in America.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans who would not support the effort to decertify Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden also received scorn. “America does not need and cannot stand and cannot tolerate anymore weakling, cowering, wimpy Republican congressmen and senators,” yelled Brooks at the rally.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The speech ended with Brooks leading a chant of “USA! USA! USA!”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The event soon grew more boisterous, as participants began marching up the&nbsp;National Mall to the steps of Congress, where they began violently clashing with police officers. The surging crowd forced an evacuation of some lawmakers, though many were trapped in rooms barricaded by furniture and hiding behind a balcony above the House of Representatives’ floor....delusional GOP lawmakers, Trump supporters now blaming 'antifa' for Capitol Hill chaos</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Meaghan Ellis January 07, 2021</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp; &nbsp;</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Most Americans clearly heard President Donald Trump encourage his supporters to march to Capitol Hill and demand the 2020 presidential election results be overturned in his favor. Shortly after Trump's directive, his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But despite all evidence to the contrary, several delusional Republican lawmakers and a disturbing number of Trump loyalists insist antifa is to blame for their own behavior. Hours after law enforcement managed to gain control of the chaotic situation, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) expressed outrage over what ensued. However, he did not hold the Trump supporters accountable, reports the Washington Post.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">According to the Republican lawmaker, some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters. They were masquerading as Trump supporters and in fact, were members of the "violent terrorist group" antifa. Antifa, a left-wing anti-fascist movement, has been described by some on the right at a "terrorist" organization, but the Southern Poverty Law Center cautions that designation is "dangerous" and "threatens civil liberties."</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) also took to Twitter with a flurry of tweets that claimed there's "evidence" to suggest antifa was behind the riot — all of which, appears to be hearsay. On Thursday, Jan. 7, Brooks tweeted, "Please, don't be like #FakeNewsMedia, don't rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears.<b>&nbsp;Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics. Evidence follows:"</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">He also broke down his claims saying:</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">1. A Congressman warned me on MONDAY of a growing ANTIFA threat & advised that I sleep in my office rather than leaving Capitol complex & sleeping in my condo. I heeded that advice & have slept on office floor for 4 straight nights.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2. Congressman told me he was warned on TUESDAY by Capitol Police officer that intelligence suggested&nbsp;<b>fascist ANTIFA</b>&nbsp;was going to try to infiltrate the Trump rally by dressing like Trump supporters.[vs proud boy say dress like anifa?]</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">3. Capitol Police advised TUESDAY that it best not to leave Capitol complex.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">4. Evidence, much public, surfacing that many Capitol assaulters were fascist ANTIFAs, not Trump supporters. Again, time will reveal truth. Don't rush to judgment. Don't be fooled by #FakeNewsMedia whose political judgment drives their reporting.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">My view: fully prosecute all!</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) also tweeted an excuse for what occurred. Just hours after the breach, Gosar tweeted, "This has all the hallmarks of Antifa provocation."[ie FALSE FLAG?]</b></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Conservative media figures and Trump supporters took to social media with bizarre claims in an effort to take the blame off the pro-Trump mob.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">...</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">However, many Twitter users have pushed back with obvious clues that Trump supporters were, indeed, responsible for the Capitol building breach, noting masks were non-existent and there was no social distancing. Media outlets are also revealing the identities of some of the rioters photographed at the Capitol building.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Despite conservative attempts to divert from what happened, many of the rioters are, indeed, right-wing extremists.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">newsmax: uS Army combat veteran @CoryMills_PACEM says "I'm pissed off at what I am seeing on American soil, I'm pissed off that I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting this terroristic behavior only to see it on our soil." http://nws.mx/tv</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Many lawmakers are calling for those identified to face charges for their actions and involvement in the Capitol breach.</font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an raw 1220</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">according to a report from the New York Times, hardcore supporters of Donald Trump who serve in the House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/us/politics/trump-allies-election-overturn-congress-pence.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">are willing to attempt to deny the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;if Donald Trump gives them a thumbs-up to proceed.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the president insisting on Saturday during a Fox News interview that "It's not over," and Biden would be an "illegitimate president," a few Republicans are making plans to use the rules of the House to contest the election results.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"As the president continues to refuse to concede, a small group of his most loyal backers in Congress are plotting a final-stage challenge on the floor of the House of Representatives in early January to try to reverse Mr. Biden's victory," the Times reports. "Constitutional scholars and even members of the president's own party say the effort is all but certain to fail. But the looming battle on Jan. 6 is likely to culminate in a messy and deeply divisive spectacle that could thrust Vice President Mike Pence into the excruciating position of having to declare once and for all that Mr. Trump has indeed lost the election."</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">According to the report, the effort is being led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> who has amplified the president's accusations of voter fraud despite a complete lack of evidence.</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"We have a superior role under the Constitution than the Supreme Court does, than any federal court judge does, than any state court judge does," the conservative GOP lawmaker explained. "What we say, goes. That's the final verdict."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the report points out, "Under rules laid out in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887, their challenges must be submitted in writing with a senator's signature also affixed," with the likelihood that&nbsp;<b>either Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) or Rand Paul (R-KY) might step up.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Once an objection is heard from a member of each house of Congress, senators and representatives will retreat to their chambers on opposite sides of the Capitol for a two-hour debate and then a vote on whether to disqualify a state's votes," the report notes. "Both the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate would have to agree to toss out a state's electoral votes — something that has not happened since the 19th century."'</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That, in turn, could put Vice President Mike Pence — with an eye on his own political future — on the spot.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The dilemma is particularly acute for Mr. Pence, who is eyeing his own presidential run in 2024. As president of the Senate, he has the constitutionally-designated task of opening and tallying envelopes sent from all 50 states and announcing their electoral results," the Times reports. "But given Mr. Trump's penchant for testing every law and norm in Washington, he could insist that Mr. Pence refuse to play that role. And either way, it will call for a final performance of the delicate dance Mr. Pence has performed for past four years, trying to maintain Mr. Trump's confidence while adhering to the law."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adding to that, an attempt to throw out the election results and defy the will of the voters could cast a cloud over the Republican Party whether it works or not.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As for Republican Brooks, "It remains unclear how broad a coalition he could build. More than 60 percent of House Republicans, including the top two party leaders,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/us/politics/republicans-trump-election-lawsuit.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">joined a legal brief&nbsp;</a>supporting the unsuccessful Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election results. But it is one thing to sign a legal brief and another to officially contest the outcome on the House floor."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/us/politics/trump-allies-election-overturn-congress-pence.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">read more here</a>.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/failed-coup-trump/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/failed-coup-trump/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">salon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;Trump is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/05/clown-coup-trumps-effort-to-overthrow-democracy-as-well-run-as-his-business-and-presidency/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">still trying to steal the election</a>&nbsp;from Joe Biden, and while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/12/dont-panic-trumps-coup-will-fail--but-hes-turning-gop-voters-against-democracy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">he is still going to fail</a>, the terrifying reality is that a few cracks in the wall protecting democracy have started to appear.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While many pundits continue to minimize this entire situation, sneering at people who use phrases like "attempted coup," the grim reality of our current moment is that Trump got far closer to succeeding than many people would like to admit. He's only stopped now by the fact that too many people voted against him in so many different parts of America. Every indication suggests that if it were up to Republicans, who still hold a disproportionate amount of power, Trump might very well have been illegally installed for a second term in office.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pennsylvania-speaker-call/2020/12/07/d65fe8c4-38bf-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The Washington Post reported</a>&nbsp;that Trump reached out to Bryan Cutler, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, on Monday in an effort to get Cutler to invalidate the state's presidential election results, citing "all these issues in Philadelphia." This is the third Republican state leader Trump has reached out to with this request — he's also contacted Georgia's Gov. Brian Kemp and brought Michigan legislators to the White House — and the third strikeout.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, it's arguably the fourth.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2020/12/02/arizona-gov-doug-ducey-confirms-trump-called-during-vote-certification/3802735001/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trump also called Arizona's Gov. Doug Ducey</a>. Ducey claimed the president wasn't trying to pressure him — but c'mon, Trump's "information gathering" is just more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/02/27/michael-cohen-issues-a-gripping-sobering-warning-but-will-it-change-anything/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Trumpian code for his pressure campaign.</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">So why isn't Trump getting what he asked for? Much of the coverage of the recalcitrant Republican leaders portrays these officials as brave defenders of democracy, or at least people who have had enough of Trump's corruption and are drawing a line.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That's nonsense.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It's evident that what's holding Republicans back is not honor or decency, but a lack of options. There simply aren't legal processes to pull off what Trump wants, no matter what Newsmax or OANN might say, and state leaders know it. They are saying no to Trump not because they want to, but because, legally, they have to. Witness, for instance, what the Pennsylvania House speaker's spokesperson&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/politics/trump-pennsylvania-house-speaker.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told the New York Times about the discussion with Trump</a>: "Cutler made it very clear what power the legislature has and does not have."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Missing, of course, is any mention of the importance of democracy or a robust defense of the right of Pennsylvanians to vote. Cutler sympathizes with Trump's desire to overturn a free and fair election,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pahousegop.com/Display/SiteFiles/1/2020/120420CongressElection2020B.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">which is why he signed a letter to the state's congressional delegation</a>&nbsp;asking them to object to the state's electoral votes. He just doesn't have the power to vacate the election results.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Georgia's&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/BrianKempGA/status/1335278871630008324" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Kemp issued a similar response</a>, noting how much effort he's put into "auditing" the vote, but underlining that he's hamstrung from doing any more. Again, this is not a high-minded defense of the right of Georgians to have their votes counted. On the contrary,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/10/19/analysis-brian-kemp-has-purged-over-300000-voters-from-georgia-rolls/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Kemp has a long history of being an eager vote suppressor</a>, and that's likely why he's governor today. He's just hit the limit of his powers to deprive voters of their right to be heard. The Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has received widespread praise for his "courage" in standing up to Trump's coup effort. This is further nonsense. While Raffensperger has been more outspoken in defense of the election results than other Trump-toadying politicians, he too is acting more out of legal necessity than a desire to defend democracy.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Raffensperger has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/georgia-secretary-state-recall/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a long history of supporting voter suppression</a>.</b>&nbsp;Indeed, he's exploiting the current situation by conflating Trump's attacks on the election with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgia-secretary-of-state-brad-raffensperger-blames-stacey-abrams-for-trumps-attempts-to-overturn-election" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the fight by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams to&nbsp;<em>ensure&nbsp;</em>free and fair elections,</a>&nbsp;on the grounds that both are losers who are critical of Georgia's election process. Of course, the two couldn't be more different, starting with the fact that Abrams is telling the truth about voter suppression and Trump is lying about voter fraud. But the larger point here is that Raffensperger's instinct is to use Trump's coup as leverage to strip away more voting rights.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Raffensperger is no hero. He's just legally constricted from being a villain in the particular case of Trump's coup.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, there was surprising enthusiasm for Trump's efforts in the days after the election from state-level Republicans, which is why&nbsp;<a href="https://republicanags.com/2020/11/09/10-republican-ags-file-amicus-brief-with-the-supreme-court-in-the-pennsylvania-mail-in-ballot-challenge-case/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">10 Republican state attorneys general filed an amicus brief&nbsp;</a>on Nov. 10 demanding that the Supreme Court gut a Pennsylvania law giving mail-in ballots mailed by Election Day up to three days to arrive. What's happened since then, however, is mounting evidence that Democratic voters, egged on by the party's calls to vote early, outwitted Republican efforts to steal the election through such legal maneuvers. For instance,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-mail-ballots-counted-deadline-supreme-court-20201111.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">only 10,000 votes arrived in that three-day post-election window in Pennsylvania</a>, so even if Trump's lawsuit had been successful, it wouldn't have changed the results of the election in that state.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even in the face of all this, some state-level Republicans are still looking for any angle they can find to overturn the election. Texas&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/08/texas-ken-paxton-election-georgia/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Tuesday</a>&nbsp;demanding that the Supreme Court prevent state delegations from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from voting in the Electoral College. Notably, all four states have been subject to accusations from Trump that the votes from large, racially diverse cities are specifically illegitimate.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the federal level, the same dynamic is in play.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-who-won-election-republicans-congress/2020/12/04/1a1011f6-3650-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Washington Post surveyed 249 Republicans in Congress</a>&nbsp;about Trump's attempts to steal the election, and the numbers are disheartening, to say the least. Only 27 GOP congressional members openly opposed the coup by acknowledging that Biden had won the presidential election. Two members said publicly they believed Trump had won, and the rest — 220 duly elected Republican members of Congress — wouldn't answer the question either way.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Saying nothing is tacit support. These members would be perfectly willing to go along with Trump stealing the election if he could pull it off. They just aren't getting on board publicly because they know it won't work. Even if some congressional Republicans object to the state electors — and every sign shows that a handful will — Democrats control the House, so nothing will likely come of it. But this silence speaks volumes about who would happily collaborate with Trump's coup if they had any confidence it would work.</font></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Of course, not all of them are silent. A group of House Republicans,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/07/politics/house-republicans-trump-biden/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">led by Jim Jordan of Ohio and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Mo Brooks of Alabama</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">, are publicly calling on Trump to continue fighting even after the Electoral College legally certifies the election for Biden next week</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. There has been no rebuke from the Republican leadership to these extremists,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;not even from leaders who hail from the states where Trump is trying to have legal votes thrown out. The Republican stance, on both the state and federal level, is clear: They wish they could help Trump overturn the election, but they just don't see a path forward. They were prepared to abuse their power as far as they could to help him, and have hit the wall</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unfortunately for Trump, time has run out.&nbsp;<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/safe-harbor-deadline-trump.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Tuesday is the deadline for states to certify their results</a>, and next Monday the Electoral College will finally make Biden's win official. The results are clear, not because Republican leaders have any integrity, but because voters showed up in large enough numbers to render all these shenanigans effectively moot. Trump will leave office on Jan. 20, and the only people who deserve credit for that are Democratic voters and organizers, who made sure Biden's win was big enough that it couldn't be stolen away.</font></p></div></div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2/19</font></p><p><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13022019/congress-house-science-committee-climate-change-republicans-green-new-deal-niskanen"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/1302<b>2019</b>/congress-house-science-committee-climate-change-republicans-green-new-deal-niskanen</font></a></p><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;House Committee on Science, Space and Technology devoted its first hearing of the 116th Congress to exploring the wide-ranging effects of climate change and explaining the science fueling them, a discussion that revealed a subtle shift among key Republicans toward accepting the prevailing research that points to human-driven global warming</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In her opening comments, committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) said that the hearing is one of&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06022019/house-climate-change-hearings-democrats-green-new-deal-infrastructure-bill" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">multiple sessions</a>&nbsp;on climate change the new Congress plans to hold in order to develop policies to address it. The committee's move to highlight mainstream climate science is a marked break from the last six years when it was led by Republican Rep. Lamar Smith,&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05122017/lamar-smith-congress-climate-change-fossil-fuel-industry-house-science-committee" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">an ardent climate denier from Texas</a>&nbsp;who retired.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The committee's new top Republican, Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, staked out a more pragmatic and less provocative position than Smith and many other conservatives in Congress had.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Droughts and heat waves come and go naturally, but the changing climate has intensified their impacts," Lucas said in his opening remarks. "We know the climate is changing and that global industrial activity has played a role in this phenomenon. But our communities, like the farmers and ranchers in my district, need to know more about the extent to which a changing climate affects short- and long-term weather patterns."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">under Lucas, the committee's minority side invited as its expert Joseph Majkut, who holds a doctorate in atmospheric science and is director of climate policy at the bipartisan&nbsp;<b>Niskanen Center.</b>&nbsp;Majkut adheres to broadly accepted climate science, unlike some GOP-invited speakers in the past. During the question-and-answer period, Majkut quashed fringe theories that a few members floated about climate change as handily as the scientists invited by the Democrats did.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats on the committee welcomed the change in approach by the ranking GOP member.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"For years, too often we found ourselves wasting time with non-technical witnesses about whether it's a matter of scientific debate whether or not it would be a good thing if the Greenland Ice Sheet melted," said Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), a physicist. "I was really thrilled to see some of the changes appearing in this committee. I'd also like to thank Ranking Member Lucas and my Republican colleagues for selecting Dr. Majkut as their witness for this hearing. He's someone with a Ph.D. in a relevant science and someone with views which are inside the scientific mainstream and that's refreshing."</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Old (and Odd) Arguments Batted Down</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Not every minority member on the committee followed Lucas's lead. Some of the older members, such as Rep. Mo<b style="">Brooks (R-Ala.)</b>, relied on the old climate denying argument</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> that, because other factors besides human activity caused warming 21,000 years ago, those are the factors driving changes now. (<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23112018/infographic-national-climate-assessment-us-economy-extreme-weather-global-warming-cost-lives-wildfires-agriculture-federal-report" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">They're not</a>.)<b>&nbsp;Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas)&nbsp;</b>brought up a period of warming in Greenland that was followed by a harsh freeze about 1,000 years ago, in an effort to prompt the expert panel to say that global warming might be a good thing.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Majkut, the GOP-invited expert, demurred. "What we do know is we built our society around the temperatures that we've encountered over the last 200, 300 years," he said, "We're fixing to change those temperatures quite a bit, and that rapid transition is the cause for concern."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In her written testimony, Kristie Ebi, an expert witness and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at University of Washington,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://science.house.gov/sites/democrats.science.house.gov/files/documents/Ebi%20Testimony%20and%20Bio.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">highlighted the vulnerability&nbsp;</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">some populations have to heat by mentioning that more than&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">700 children died from 1990 to 2014 because they were left in hot cars. Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) suggested they may have perished because vehicles now are built "tighter" than before, allowing less air in.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Baird also speculated that species might adapt swiftly enough to climate change to avoid mass extinctions, despite vast scientific evidence to the contrary.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The climate now is changing faster than it has been in 10,000 years, so it has to be a challenge for many of our plants and other species to try to evolve fast enough in the face of this rapid rate of change," Ebi responded.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans Attacked the Green New Deal</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Younger GOP members on the panel, such as Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, opened their questioning by saying they accepted climate change and, unlike their older colleagues, did not offer alternative theories.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But nearly all the GOP members used the hearing as an opportunity to bash the&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07022019/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ed-markey-climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Green New Deal</a>, a job creation and climate plan whose outlines were unveiled last week by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Ocasio-Cortez's office bungled the rollout of the project when it posted a meandering&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5729035/Green-New-Deal-FAQ.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">draft document</a>&nbsp;with "Frequently Asked Questions" that said, among other things, that its goal was net-zero emissions rather than absolutely zero because "we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The GOP members of the Science Committee seized on elements of the FAQ to allege that the Democrats' solution to climate change was a socialist takeover of industries</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Republican members also alleged that gasoline and electricity prices would skyrocket. The GOP has used such doomsday scenarios to great effect in the past, including to derail Senate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill in 2010, the last two times Congress was tasked with reining in greenhouse gases.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democratic members did not address the apocalyptic predictions of their GOP colleagues. But Majkut, who described the Green New Deal as a broad progressive agenda with some climate policies attached to it, rebuffed the idea that broad-based efforts to cut emissions would throttle the economy.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think the intent is not to overly punish any particular class of people or any particular technology. It's to put in place a system we're all going to benefit from in the long term," Majkut said. "Frankly, I don't know if it will be too costly.</font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/the-right-wings-massive-free-speech-hypocrisy-bret-stephens-and-mo-brooks-are-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/the-right-wings-massive-free-speech-hypocrisy-bret-stephens-and-mo-brooks-are-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The right-wing’s massive free-speech hypocrisy: Bret Stephens and Mo Brooks are the tip of the iceberg</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Sophia Tesfaye / Salon September 1, 2019</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last week’s embarrassing “bedbug” saga, in which a harmless joke finally drove New York Times columnist Bret Stephens off Twitter, is a perfect example of the incredibly thin skin possessed by most of the vocal “free speech warriors” who have used fear-mongering over the supposed silencing of discourse on college campus to leapfrog from the right wing into the mainstream. The hilarious anecdote also usefully breaks down the false premise upon which this particular battle in the culture wars is built on.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After it was reported this week that the New York Times headquarters has a bedbug infestation, David Karpf, an associate professor at George Washington University, tweeted: “The bedbugs are a metaphor. The bedbugs are Bret Stephens.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Without even being tagged in a tweet that had initially garnered zero retweets, Stephens noticed. He then wrote an email to Karpf to bemoan his lack of civility, sending a copy to the provost of Karpf’s university.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people — people they’ve never met — on Twitter,” Stephens wrote in a now-infamous email to Karpf. “I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a ‘bedbug’ to my face.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stephens later explained on MSNBC that he snitched to Karpf’s boss not in an effort to get him fired, but because “managers should know” about their employee’s private speech. This is the same Bret Stephens who has warned against trigger warnings in the classroom: “If you can’t speak freely, you’ll quickly lose the ability to think clearly.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A day before Stephens’ Twitter-induced meltdown, a<b>&nbsp;right-wing Republican congressman called for a university professor to be fired for his speech.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After Allen Frances, former chair of the Duke University department of psychiatry, appeared on CNN last weekend,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">., took to Twitter to call for his firing. Brooks objected to Frances’ argument that “Trump is as destructive a person in this century as Hitler, Stalin and Mao were in the last century.”</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Brooks, who has previously compared Democrats and the media to Hitler, declared in a recent press release: “I support freedom and free enterprise. I oppose free speech suppression and Socialism.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Both calls for suppression of speech from prominent voices on the right come about a week after a targeted campaign by right-wing media resulted in a professor actually losing his job because of political speech and association.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Conservative websites piled on Jeff Klinzman, an adjunct English professor at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, over a post on a Facebook page named<b>&nbsp;“Iowa Antifa.”&nbsp;</b>After someone shared a tweet in which Trump referred to antifa protesters as “Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting … people over the heads with baseball bats,” Klinzman commented, “Yeah, I know who I’d clock with a bat,” ABC affiliate KCRG reported.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump said in July that his administration was considering designating anti-fascists as a terrorist organization after GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a non-binding resolution to label members of antifa groups as “domestic terrorists.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Klinzman was forced to resign from his teaching position following the national outcry.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Few so-called free speech advocates came to Klinzman’s defense. Not New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who once wrote, “Political correctness on college campuses has run ridiculously riot,” or his colleague Ross Douthat, who complained about the “fainting-couch politics of recent campus and online progressivism.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even fewer have taken up the cause of Ismail B. Ajjawi,<b>&nbsp;a 17-year-old Palestinian student recently detained at Boston’s Logan Airport on his way to Harvard University.</b>&nbsp;The Harvard Crimson reported that U.S. officials interrogated Ajjawi, who was arriving to begin his freshman year at Harvard on a full scholarship, for eight hours. After searching his phone and computer, authorities eventually revoked his visa and sent him home to Lebanon, where he had lived as a refugee. Ajjawi’s visa cancellation came just days before the U.S. State Department removed Palestine from its official list of countries.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to a written statement by Ajjawi, an immigration officer claimed she “found people posting political points of view that oppose the U.S.,” though she discovered nothing Ajjawi had posted himself.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Not enough details are available on Ajjawi’s case to know whether any of his friends’ offensive posts were threatening in nature. But since there was no official boasting about having stopped a potential terrorist, it seems highly unlikely there was any imminent threat or any apparent history of radicalism. Indeed, Ajjawi is not even being punished for something he said — but for something his friends apparently said.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And his case comes the same week an inspector general released a report on political targeting within the State Department.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That investigation was launched following media reports of political retribution and the administering of a sort of loyalty test after Donald Trump’s inauguration. The State Department inspector general’s office found a pattern of inappropriate actions by Kevin Moley, assistant secretary of state for the department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, and his senior adviser, Mari Stull.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to Foreign Policy, Stull’s job had been to “scour the social media accounts of employees, diplomatic staffers, and employees of international organizations connected to the US, to determine if they’re devoted and dutiful to Trump and his agenda.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Moley and Stull were also accused of deciding not to fill a bureau role that dealt with human rights because they did not like the leading candidate for the role, possibly because of the person’s relationship with the LGBTQ community. The person’s past work with a UN agency that deals with Palestinian refugees was also said to have bothered Stull, who felt the agency was anti-Semitic.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The IG’s report found that Stull had referred to her colleagues in the IO Bureau as the “swamp” on her personal Twitter account. On the allegation that Stull retaliated against career officials perceived as politically disloyal, the inspector general “found evidence of leadership and management deficiencies and mistreatment of career employees in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The majority of the employees the inspector general’s office interviewed, the report stated, “either directly experienced hostile treatment or witnessed such treatment directed at others.”<b>&nbsp;Many of the bureau’s staffers said Stull “made positive or negative comments about employees based on perceived political views,” including referring to career employees as “‘Obama holdovers,’ ‘traitors,’ or ‘disloyal.’”</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stull told Foreign Policy that the inspector general’s “report is&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">politically motivated payback for my efforts to implement President Trump’s agenda over the resistance of Deep State bureaucrats who opposed his reform agenda.”</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Free speech is just a tool for conservatives, who have no serious commitment to the First Amendment or any other doctrine of basic human rights. The moment such freedom doesn’t further their ideology, it magically disappears.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Attorney General William Barr has now produced a summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian counterintelligence in the 2016 presidential election. Although that summary doesn’t actually clear President Donald Trump, many Republicans have decided it does — and furthermore, that anybody who even speculated the Mueller report could harm Trump is a liar.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Enter Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who on Monday illustrated what he thinks of Democratic lawmakers and journalists who pursued the Mueller investigation by quoting a passage from Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, on the House floor.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“For more than two years, socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies — CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Washington Post and countless others — have perpetrated the biggest political lie, con, scam and fraud in American history,” said Brooks. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I quote from another socialist who mastered ‘big lie’ propaganda to a maximum, and deadly, effect: ‘In the big lie, there is always a certain force of credibility because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature … and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Watch below:</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;Embedded video</div><div>
</div><div>?????? ?????????? ??????</div><div>@ellievan65</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;In a speech Monday on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives,Mo Brooks (R-AL)&nbsp; quoted Adolf Hitler to describe the attacks President Trump faced from “socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies” during the Mueller investigation …#ResisterForum</div><div>
</div><div>There is a lot to unpack here. First of all, Hitler wasn’t a socialist — he was a fascist, which is at the opposite end of the left-right spectrum from socialism. Second of all, demanding answers about Russia, and speculating about what Mueller’s report might contain, is not lying.</div><div>
</div><div>Third of all, and perhaps most important, Brooks doesn’t seem to know the context of this Mein Kampf passage. While Hitler was indeed a prodigious liar, his description of the “big lie” was not a boast about his own mendacity — it was his anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about how Jewish oligarchs use lies to control the masses. So as some observers on Twitter pointed out, this analogy reads a little differently from how Brooks probably meant it:</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Coley Foley</div><div>@colbster</div><div>Replying to @paul_gattis @RepMoBrooks</div><div>So let me get this straight. Hitler accused Jews of a Big Lie, blaming the loss of WWI on Erich Ludendorff. You're accusing the Democrats of a similar Big Lie, accusing Trump of colluding with Russia?</div><div>
</div><div>So in this analogy, Mo Brooks is Hitler, and Dems are the Jews. Think about it</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mo Brooks is, to put it mildly, a colorful figure. He has proclaimed there is a “war on whites.” He has said that Obamacare protections are bad because we “people who lead good lives” should pay less for insurance than people with pre-existing conditions. He has suggested that sea level rise is caused not by global warming but by rocks falling into the sea. And he has vowed that he will “do anything short of shooting” immigrants to get them out of America.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Alabama, all of this might actually be a plus with voters. The<b> right-wing Club For Growth has released polls showing him leading the GOP primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones,</b> and though Brooks is not actually in the race, he says he is “contemplating” jumping in.</span></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/gop-lawmaker-faceplants-on-live-tv-after-being-asked-if-climate-change-could-be-considered-a-national-emergency/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/gop-lawmaker-faceplants-on-live-tv-after-being-asked-if-climate-change-could-be-considered-a-national-emergency/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) on Friday appeared to short circuit after CNN’s John Berman asked him if a Democrat president could in the future use the precedent being set by President Donald Trump to unilaterally declare climate change a “national emergency.”</font></p><div class="p0_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During a discussion about Trump potentially bypassing Congress to order the construction of his border wall by declaring a “national emergency,” Berman asked Brooks what he would think of a future Democratic president using the same tactics to address climate change.</font></p><div class="p1_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="advertisement " style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SPONSORED</font></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m sorry, you’d have to… that was kind of convoluted, the way I heard it, could you please restate it?” Brooks said in response.</font></p><div class="p2_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What I’m saying is, if the president can make the claim that national security money, emergency money is needed for a wall, could a president at one point say it’s needed to fight climate change?” he asked.</font></p><div class="p3_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At this point, Brooks’ eyes darted about and there was an uncomfortable pause before he responded.</font></p><div class="p4_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I would have to look at the specific statutes to see what you can and cannot do,” he said. “This is so far out there…”</font></p><div class="p5_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Why?” Berman interjected. “If it’s a matter of national security and the president deems it so, why is it outside the purview of the law?”</font></p><div class="p6_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I don’t see how that example that you gave affects the national security of the United States,” he replied.</font></p><div class="p7_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Pentagon and the intelligence services often talk about the affects of climate change,” Berman shot back.</font></p><div class="p8_13" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Watch the video below</span>.</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...Sh<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">it They Just Made Up.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It might help to imagine Woods Hole Research Center President Philip Duffy as having wandered into a local bar, and Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks as a sloshed-out-of-his-mind patron regaling him with Drunk Guy ideas about the&nbsp;<em>real</em>&nbsp;causes of sea level rise. For example, says Brooks, maybe it's not thermodynamics or melting ice sheets causing our oceans to rise, Maybe it is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/republican-lawmaker-rocks-tumbling-ocean-causing-sea-level-rise" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none;">goddamn White Cliffs of Dover</a>.</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brooks then said that erosion plays a significant role in sea-level rise, which is not an idea embraced by mainstream climate researchers. He said the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover tumble into the sea every year, and that contributes to sea-level rise. He also said that silt washing into the ocean from the world's major rivers, including the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile, is contributing to sea-level rise.</font></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up," Brooks said.</font><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Duffy responded: "I'm pretty sure that on human time scales, those are minuscule effects."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></blockquote><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/republican-congressman-seriously-suggested-sea-levels-are-rising-because-falling">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/republican-congressman-seriously-suggested-sea-levels-are-rising-because-falling</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">career</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><table id="topContrib" class="tablesorter datadisplay tablesorter-default" role="grid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 604px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 18px;"><tbody aria-live="polite" aria-relevant="all"><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dynetics Inc</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$49,250</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$14,250</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$35,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Honeywell International</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$33,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$33,500</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lockheed Martin</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$32,750</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$4,750</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$28,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama Power</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$31,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$31,500</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Northrop Grumman</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$30,750</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$1,750</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$29,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama Farmers Federation</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$30,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$30,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boeing Co</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$28,750</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$4,250</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$24,500</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endo Health Solutions</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$26,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$26,500</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blue Cross Blue Shield/Alabama</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$25,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$25,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defend America PAC</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$25,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$25,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Raytheon Co</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$25,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$24,500</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dese Research</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$23,550</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$23,550</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Davidson Technologies</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$23,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$23,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Assn of Realtors</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$23,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$23,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Society of Anesthesiologists</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$22,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$22,500</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McDaniel & Mcdaniel</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$21,600</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$21,600</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leo & Brooks</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$19,900</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$19,900</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Balch & Bingham</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$19,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$19,000</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="odd" style="background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COLSA Corp</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$17,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$17,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr><tr role="row" class="even" style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Torch Technologies</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$17,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$1,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$16,50</font></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><div class="crpItem" style="margin-right: 25px;"><table id="topContrib" class="datadisplay" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background: rgb(224, 230, 236); width: 605px;"><tbody><tr style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blue Cross/Blue Shield</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$14,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$14,000</font></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dynetics Inc</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$500</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defend America PAC</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Southern Co</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Northrop Grumman</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="viewMoreText" style="text-align: right; font-style: italic; margin-right: 25px;"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00030910&type=C&newmem=N" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">...view more data</font></a></div></div><div class="contentBlockSeparator" style="background-color: rgb(34, 43, 74); width: 630px; height: 8px; clear: both; margin: 10px 0px;"><div class="headerWithIcons" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /></font><h2 style="margin: 2em 0px 0.2em; clear: left;"><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;" /><a name="ind" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Top 5 Industries, 2016 - 2016, Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h2></div><div class="crpItem" style="margin-right: 25px;"><table id="topIndus" class="datadisplay" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background: rgb(224, 230, 236); width: 605px;"><thead><tr><th style="padding: 3px; text-align: center; background: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Industry</font></th><th style="padding: 3px; text-align: center; background: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Total</font></th><th style="padding: 3px; text-align: center; background: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indivs</font></th><th style="padding: 3px; text-align: center; background: rgb(153, 153, 153);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PACs</font></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense Aerospace</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$40,200</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$1,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$39,200</font></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Misc Defense</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$34,550</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$19,250</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$15,300</font></td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Real Estate</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$21,100</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$17,100</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$4,000</font></td></tr><tr><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Health Professionals</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$21,100</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$11,100</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000</font></td></tr><tr style="background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style="padding: 5px; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Insurance</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$21,000</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td><td class="number" style="padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$21,000</font></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="viewMoreText" style="text-align: right; font-style: italic; margin-right: 25px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00030910&type=C&newmem=N" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">...view more data</font></a></font></font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33367ff7-2a25-cb49-ae18-b57aed3a4d2a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"No House committee has ever tried—nor should ever try—to enforce subpoenas against state attorneys general," said Tiefer, the lone witness called by the Democratic minority."The committee has failed to identify even one single House subpoena to a state attorney general in 200 years. The reason? It's never happened."</font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33367ff7-2a25-cb49-ae18-b57aed3a4d2a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remarks and questioning of the witness by the members of the committee revealed a deep philosophical gulf between Republicans and Democrats.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33367ff7-2a25-cb49-ae18-b57aed3a4d2a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois Democrat Bill Foster lamented that the science committee was wasting its time on the issue.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33367ff7-2a25-cb49-ae18-b57aed3a4d2a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We are talking about subpoenas and should be focused instead on assuring that the U.S. remains on the leading edge of scientific discovery," he said.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It is long past time this committee accepts the facts of climate change and takes on the very of important matter of figuring out where we go to address the biggest challenge of our lifetime."</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33367ff7-2a25-cb49-ae18-b57aed3a4d2a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, said he wanted to "emphasize something about this quote unquote climate change phrase."</b></font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33367ff7-2a25-cb49-ae18-b57aed3a4d2a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The so-called climate change debate is about the role humanity has played— if any—in today's version of climate," he said.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It ignores "the cost to humanity in terms of depressed economics of implanting so alleged climate cures."</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/mo-brooks
===

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Morris Jackson "Mo" Brooks, Jr.</b><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> (born April 29, 1954) is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a> politician who has been the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives">U.S. Representative</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama%27s_5th_congressional_district" title="Alabama's 5th congressional district">Alabama's 5th congressional district</a> since 2011. He is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican Party</a>.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><div id="toc" class="toc">

<div id="toctitle">

<h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Contents</font></h2>

</div></div><div id="toc" class="toc">

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_legal_career"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Early life, education, and legal career</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Early_political_career"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Early political career</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#U.S._House_of_Representatives"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">U.S. House of Representatives</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Elections"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Elections</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Tenure"><span class="tocnumber">3.2</span> <span class="toctext">Tenure</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Abortion_and_stem_cell_research"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Abortion and stem cell research</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Economy"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Economy</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Foreign_policy"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.3</span> <span class="toctext">Foreign policy</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-9"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Health_care"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.4</span> <span class="toctext">Health care</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-10"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Illegal_immigration"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.5</span> <span class="toctext">Illegal immigration</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-11"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#.22War_on_Whites.22"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.6</span> <span class="toctext">"War on Whites"</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-12"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#NSA"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.7</span> <span class="toctext">NSA</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-13"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Regulatory_reform"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.8</span> <span class="toctext">Regulatory reform</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-14"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Sanctuary_city"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.9</span> <span class="toctext">Sanctuary city</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-15"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Statements_on_Socialism"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.10</span> <span class="toctext">Statements on Socialism</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-16"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Technology"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.11</span> <span class="toctext">Technology</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-17"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Marijuana"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.12</span> <span class="toctext">Marijuana</span></a></font></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Committee_assignments"><span class="tocnumber">3.3</span> <span class="toctext">Committee assignments</span></a></font></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Electoral_history"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Electoral history</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Presidential_Election_Politics_2016"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">Presidential Election Politics 2016</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#Personal_life"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Personal life</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-22"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#References"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></font></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></font></li></ul>

</div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_legal_career">Early life, education, and legal career</span></font></h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks was born in 1954 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,South_Carolina" title="Charleston, South Carolina">Charleston, South Carolina</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-CQRollGuide_2-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-CQRollGuide-2">[2]</a></sup> and moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsville,Alabama" title="Huntsville, Alabama">Huntsville, Alabama</a>, in 1963. His mother, Betty J. (Noland) Brooks, taught economics and government for over twenty years at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_High_School%28Huntsville,Alabama%29" title="Lee High School (Huntsville, Alabama)">Lee High School</a>, while he attended <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grissom_High_School" title="Grissom High School" class="mw-redirect">Grissom High School</a>. His father, Morris Jackson "Jack" Brooks, was raised in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga,Tennessee" title="Chattanooga, Tennessee">Chattanooga, Tennessee</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-nj101013_3-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-nj101013-3">[3]</a></sup> and worked as an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_engineer" title="Electrical engineer" class="mw-redirect">electrical engineer</a> before retiring from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redstone_Arsenal" title="Redstone Arsenal">Redstone Arsenal</a>'s Meteorology Center.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> They still live in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_County,Alabama" title="Madison County, Alabama">Madison County, Alabama</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-MadCtyBio_5-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-MadCtyBio-5">[5]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_I._Grissom_High_School" title="Virgil I. Grissom High School">Grissom High School</a> in 1972. He graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_University" title="Duke University">Duke University</a> in three years with a double major in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_science" title="Political science">political science</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics" title="Economics">economics</a>, with highest honors in economics.<sup id="cite_ref-section9_6-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-section9-6">[6]</a></sup> Brooks later graduated from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Alabama_School_of_Law" title="University of Alabama School of Law">University of Alabama School of Law</a> in 1978.<sup id="cite_ref-section9_6-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-section9-6">[6]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks started his legal career with the Tuscaloosa district

attorney’s office. Brooks left the Tuscaloosa district attorney’s office

in 1980 to return to Huntsville as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_clerk" title="Law clerk">law clerk</a>

for presiding circuit court judge John David Snodgrass. During every

year except when he was serving as a prosecutor or court clerk, Brooks

was a practicing lawyer. In 1993, he became of counsel to the firm of

Leo and Associates, a business law firm with a national focus, founded

by Karl W. Leo. He became a partner in the firm which was reorganized as

Leo & Brooks, LLC. He maintained a national practice that

specialized in commercial litigation.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_political_career">Early political career</span></font></h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1982, Brooks was elected to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_House_of_Representatives" title="Alabama House of Representatives">Alabama House of Representatives</a>

and was subsequently re-elected in 1983, 1986, and 1990. While in the

legislature, Brooks was elected Republican house caucus chairman three

times.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1991, Brooks was appointed Madison County district attorney. In 1992, he ran for the office, but lost to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democrat</a> Tim Morgan. A Republican had not been elected to the office since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era_of_the_United_States" title="Reconstruction Era of the United States" class="mw-redirect">Reconstruction</a> era.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1995–1996, Brooks was appointed special assistant attorney general for attorney general <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions" title="Jeff Sessions">Jeff Sessions</a>. From 1996 to 2002, he was<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> special assistant attorney general for attorney general <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Pryor" title="Bill Pryor" class="mw-redirect">Bill Pryor</a>.</span></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 1996, Brooks ran for the Madison County commission and unseated an

8-year incumbent Republican. He was reelected to the commission in

2000, 2004, and 2008.<sup id="cite_ref-section9_6-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-section9-6">[6]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In 2006, Brooks unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Governor_of_Alabama" title="Lieutenant Governor of Alabama" class="mw-redirect">lieutenant governor of Alabama</a>, coming in third place behind eventual nominee<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Strange" title="Luther Strange">Luther Strange</a> and former state treasurer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace,_Jr." title="George Wallace, Jr.">George Wallace, Jr.</a><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup></span></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="U.S._House_of_Representatives">U.S. House of Representatives</span></font></h2><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h3><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Elections">Elections</span></font></h3><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><dl><dt><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">2010</font></dt></dl><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><div role="note" class="hatnote"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Alabama,_2010#District_5" title="United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2010">United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2010 § District 5</a></font></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks won the Republican primary, receiving 51% of the vote, defeating incumbent Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Griffith" title="Parker Griffith">Parker Griffith</a> (33%) and conservative activist Les Phillip (16%).<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-11">[11]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Brooks was named a "Young Gun" by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee">Republican National Committee</a> in 2010.</b><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-12">[12]</a></sup> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sabato" title="Larry Sabato">Larry Sabato</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Cook" title="Charlie Cook">Charlie Cook</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Clear_Politics" title="Real Clear Politics" class="mw-redirect">Real Clear Politics</a> rated this race "Likely Republican".<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-13">[13]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-14">[14]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-15">[15]</a></sup> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQPolitics" title="CQPolitics" class="mw-redirect">CQPolitics</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Rothenberg" title="Stuart Rothenberg">Stuart Rothenberg</a>, and the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times" title="New York Times" class="mw-redirect">New York Times</a></i> rated the race "Safe Republican".<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-16">[16]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-17">[17]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-18">[18]</a></sup> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Silver" title="Nate Silver">Nate Silver</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiveThirtyEight.com" title="FiveThirtyEight.com" class="mw-redirect">FiveThirtyEight.com</a> <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times" title="New York Times" class="mw-redirect">New York Times</a></i> blog predicted that there was a 94.1% chance that Brooks would defeat the Democratic nominee, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Raby" title="Steve Raby">Steve Raby</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-19">[19]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the general election, Brooks defeated Raby 58%–42%.<sup id="cite_ref-AlabamaSOS2010_20-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-AlabamaSOS2010-20">[20]</a></sup> He became the first Republican to represent this district since Reconstruction.</span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2014)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><dl><dt><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">2012</font></dt></dl><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><div role="note" class="hatnote"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Alabama,_2012#District_5" title="United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2012">United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2012 § District 5</a></font></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In January 2012, Parker Griffith, having switched parties, filed for a

rematch against Brooks in the Republican primary. He said of the

incumbent "We'll contrast my time in Congress with my opponent's time in

Congress. The distinction is clear, he has wandered away from many of

the issues people want us to address."<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-21">[21]</a></sup> Brooks carries the support of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly" title="Phyllis Schlafly">Phyllis Schlafly</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Forum" title="Eagle Forum">Eagle Forum</a> political action committee</b>.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-22">[22]</a></sup> Brooks defeated Griffith in the rematch 71%–29%, a landslide margin of 42 points. Brooks won all five of the counties.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-23">[23]</a></sup> Griffith ran four points worse than he had in the 2010 primary</span>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2014)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h3><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Tenure">Tenure</span></font></h3><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">Brooks is one of the most conservative members of congress. In 2012, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Journal" title="National Journal">National Journal</a> ranked him as the 75th most conservative member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._House_of_Representatives" title="U.S. House of Representatives" class="mw-redirect">U.S. House of Representatives</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-24">[24]</a></sup> His district is in northern Alabama and is home to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redstone_Arsenal" title="Redstone Arsenal">Redstone Arsenal</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Space_Flight_Center" title="Marshall Space Flight Center">Marshall Space Flight Center</a>.

During his tenure, Brooks has gained a reputation of being a firebrand

conservative who is willing to appear on all media like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSNBC" title="MSNBC">MSNBC</a> to talk about contentious issues like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration" title="Illegal immigration">illegal immigration</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPACA" title="PPACA" class="mw-redirect">PPACA</a>.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Abortion_and_stem_cell_research">Abortion and stem cell research</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Representative Brooks opposes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion" title="Abortion">abortion</a> and any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_research" title="Stem cell research" class="mw-redirect">stem cell research</a> that uses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_embryos" title="Human embryos" class="mw-redirect">human embryos</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-abortion_25-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-abortion-25">[25]</a></sup> Brooks co-sponsored the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would have ended federal funding for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood" title="Planned Parenthood">Planned Parenthood</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-abortion_25-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-abortion-25">[25]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Economy">Economy</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks believes that the economy is the sole issue for Congress. He

stated: "Financial issues overshadow everything else going on in

Washington. That one set of issues is sucking everything else out of the

room.”<sup id="cite_ref-brookstimesdailyeconomy_26-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookstimesdailyeconomy-26">[26]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks supports reforming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_%28United_States%29" title="Social Security (United States)">Social Security</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-brooksforcongresswebsite_27-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooksforcongresswebsite-27">[27]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-brooksgovtfinanceprob_28-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooksgovtfinanceprob-28">[28]</a></sup> including allowing individuals to invest some of their Social Security money in private retirement accounts.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-10-cc-q6_29-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-10-cc-q6-29">[29]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-socsec_30-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-socsec-30">[30]</a></sup>

Brooks stated that he does not support the full privatization of Social

Security, "because the stock market and many other investments are

simply too volatile."<sup id="cite_ref-brooksforcongresswebsite_27-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooksforcongresswebsite-27">[27]</a></sup> Brooks also supports the plan proposed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan" title="Paul Ryan">Paul Ryan</a> to shift <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_%28United_States%29" title="Medicare (United States)">Medicare</a> from a publicly run program to one that is managed by private insurers.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare_31-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare-31">[31]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks is a signer of Grover Norquist's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Tax_Reform#Taxpayer_Protection_Pledge" title="Americans for Tax Reform">Americans for Tax Reform</a>’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxpayer_Protection_Pledge" title="Taxpayer Protection Pledge" class="mw-redirect">Taxpayer Protection Pledge</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-ATR_32-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ATR-32">[32]</a></sup> Brooks supports the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Tax" title="Fair Tax" class="mw-redirect">Fair Tax</a> proposal.<sup id="cite_ref-brooksgovtfinanceprob_28-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooksgovtfinanceprob-28">[28]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While at a monthly breakfast meeting of the Madison County Republican

Men's Club, Brooks referred to the jobs bill proposed by President

Obama as the "Obama 'kill jobs' bill."<sup id="cite_ref-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill_33-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill-33">[33]</a></sup> He told the crowd that it adds to the debt, promotes "frivolous lawsuits," and creates new government agencies.<sup id="cite_ref-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill_33-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill-33">[33]</a></sup>

He challenged the president's promotion of the bill saying, "If Barack

Obama is serious about jobs, how about repealing Obamacare,</span> dealing with

illegal immigration and urging the Democrat-controlled Senate to pass

pro-jobs bills that have already cleared in the House."<sup id="cite_ref-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill_33-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill-33">[33]</a></sup>

At the same meeting, Brooks compared the recession of 2008 (and its

after effects) with the Great Depression, saying that the problems

associated with the Great Depression are "a cakewalk compared to what

can happen to our country if we don't start acting responsibly in

Washington, D.C., to try to get this deficit under control."<sup id="cite_ref-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill_33-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-huntsvilletimes-brooks-killjobsbill-33">[33]</a></sup>

Brooks believes that if the national debt of the United States

continues to grow, the damage done to the nation will be catastrophic.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (August 2014)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The federal government is the largest employer in Brooks' district.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-34">[34]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2010 Brooks signed a pledge sponsored by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a> to not vote for any Global Warming legislation that would raise taxes.</span><sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-35">[35]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Foreign_policy">Foreign policy</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks believes that "we cannot continue to be the world police."<sup id="cite_ref-brookstimesdailyeconomy_26-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookstimesdailyeconomy-26">[26]</a></sup> He has expressed disappointment that the U.S. military didn't leave <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a> immediately after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden" title="Death of Osama bin Laden">death of Osama bin Laden</a> on May 1, 2011.<sup id="cite_ref-brookstimesdailyeconomy_26-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookstimesdailyeconomy-26">[26]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><dl><dd><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">He also has expressed his disapproval over NATO military actions in

Libya that the United States has been involved in. He has stated, "I

reject the president’s position that the way to prevent Libyans from

killing Libyans is by Americans killing Libyans."<sup id="cite_ref-brookspressrelease624_36-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookspressrelease624-36">[36]</a></sup>

He voted against H.R. 2278 and, after voting, released this statement:

"We should be out of Libya altogether, and not voting piecemeal on parts

of the operation. While this bill excludes some operations in Libya, it

approves many others. The lesson from Vietnam is that the one sure way

to lose a war is by fighting it half-way."<sup id="cite_ref-brookspressrelease624_36-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookspressrelease624-36">[36]</a></sup></font></dd></dl><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><dl><dd><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks opposed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrify_Africa_Act_of_2013%28H.R.2548;_113th_Congress%29" title="Electrify Africa Act of 2013 (H.R. 2548; 113th Congress)" class="mw-redirect">Electrify Africa Act of 2013 (H.R. 2548; 113th Congress)</a>, a bill that would direct the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States">President</a> to establish a multiyear strategy to assist countries in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-Saharan_Africa" title="Sub-Saharan Africa">sub-Saharan Africa</a> develop an appropriate mix of power solutions to provide sufficient <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity" title="Electricity">electricity</a> access to people living in rural and urban areas in order to alleviate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty" title="Poverty">poverty</a> and drive economic growth.<sup id="cite_ref-2548sum_37-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-2548sum-37">[37]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-BrooksAL_38-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-BrooksAL-38">[38]</a></sup>

At a meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Brooks said

"American taxpayers spend more than $40 billion per year on foreign

aid... Given America's out-of-control deficits and accumulated debt that

threaten our economic future, I cannot justify American taxpayers

building power plants and transmission lines in Africa with money we do

not have, will have to borrow to get, and cannot afford to pay back."<sup id="cite_ref-BrooksAL_38-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-BrooksAL-38">[38]</a></sup></font></dd></dl><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Health_care">Health care</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks is opposed to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act" title="Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act">Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act</a> and has said that the committee that passed it didn't understand it.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare_31-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare-31">[31]</a></sup>

He signed the Club for Growth's "Repeal-It!" pledge that stated that

upon his election to Congress that he would "sponsor and support

legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010,

and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without

growing government."<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare_31-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare-31">[31]</a></sup> He was also endorsed by the website Defundit.org for his stance on the health care reform bill.<sup id="cite_ref-brooks-defundit_39-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooks-defundit-39">[39]</a></sup>

Brooks co-sponsored H.R. 127, which would have removed all funding from

the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Health Care and

Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and any amendments made by either

act.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare_31-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare-31">[31]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Illegal_immigration">Illegal immigration</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks is opposed to allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the

United States. As part of his 2010 campaign, he advocated getting the

federal government "out of the way so state and local governments can

help solve the problem."<sup id="cite_ref-brooksforcongresswebsite_27-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooksforcongresswebsite-27">[27]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-immigration_40-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-immigration-40">[40]</a></sup> He also advocated making it "unprofitable" for employers to hire illegal immigrants over American citizens.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-immigration_40-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-immigration-40">[40]</a></sup> In an interview in 2014, he stated that "8 million undocumented workers, 500,000 young immigrants should be deported".<sup id="cite_ref-al.com_41-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-al.com-41">[41]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks has been endorsed by Americans for Legal Immigration (ALI),<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-immigration_40-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-immigration-40">[40]</a></sup> a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee" title="Political action committee">political action committee (or PAC)</a>.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks has co-sponsored 14 immigration-reducing bills since taking office in January 2011.<sup id="cite_ref-brooks-numbersusa_42-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooks-numbersusa-42">[42]</a></sup> Brooks also has stated that he feels Congress will probably do nothing about illegal immigration in the coming years.<sup id="cite_ref-brooksgovtfinanceprob_28-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brooksgovtfinanceprob-28">[28]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On June 29, 2011, in an interview with reporter Venton Blandin of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHNT-TV" title="WHNT-TV">WHNT-TV</a>, Brooks was asked by Blandin to repeat what he had previously stated at a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_hall_meeting" title="Town hall meeting">town hall meeting</a> about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigrant" title="Illegal immigrant" class="mw-redirect">illegal immigrants</a>.

Brooks repeated his previous statement, saying, "As your congressman on

the House floor, I will do anything short of shooting them. Anything

that is lawful, it needs to be done because illegal aliens need to quit

taking jobs from American citizens." <sup id="cite_ref-brookswhntimmigrants_43-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookswhntimmigrants-43">[43]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In a radio interview with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Anderson_%28talk_show_host%29" title="Will Anderson (talk show host)">Will Anderson</a>

Radio Show, Brooks stated his opposition to undocumented immigrants

serving in the military, saying, “These individuals have to be

absolutely 100 percent loyal and trustworthy, as best as we can make

them, ‘cause they’re gonna have access to all sorts of military

weaponry—even to the point of having access to weapons of mass

destruction like our nuclear arsenal. And I’m gonna have much greater

faith in the loyalty of an American citizen than a person who is a

citizen of a foreign nation.”<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-44">[44]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id=".22War_on_Whites.22">"War on Whites"</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On August 4, 2014 Brooks went on <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laura_Ingraham_Show" title="The Laura Ingraham Show">The Laura Ingraham Show</a></i> and Ingraham played Brooks a clip of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Fournier" title="Ron Fournier">Ron Fournier</a> warning that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican Party</a>

could not survive as the "party of white people." Brooks responded:

"Well, this is a part of the war on whites that’s being launched by the

Democratic Party... And the way in which they’re launching this war is

by claiming that whites hate everybody else. It's part of the strategy

that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama">Barack Obama</a>

implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on

race, on sex, creed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things."

The comment drew considerable comments and controversy.<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-45">[45]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-46">[46]</a></sup> For example, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Yorker" title="The New Yorker">The New Yorker</a></i>

stated: "White reactionaries in the 19th century imagined that

abolishing slavery would turn white people themselves into slaves, and

the concept of white subjugation was transferred into such things as

black suffrage, civil rights, and so on. The war on whites has raged

continuously in the right-wing mind for more than two centuries."<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-47">[47]</a></sup>

When asked about the comment later that day, Brooks repeated the claim

of a war on whites, stating: "In effect, what the Democrats are doing

with their dividing America by race is they are waging a war on whites

and I find that repugnant."<sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-48">[48]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Two days after the original comment, Brooks expanded also stated that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican Party</a> was involved in a war on whites.<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-49">[49]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="NSA">NSA</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks supports the right for the NSA to collect telephone metadata

on Americans, saying its potential to thwart terrorist attacks outweighs

potential infringements on privacy.<sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-50">[50]</a></sup> However, in 2014, Brooks voted in favor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act" title="USA Freedom Act">USA Freedom Act</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-FINAL_VOTE_RESULTS_FOR_ROLL_CALL_230_51-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-FINAL_VOTE_RESULTS_FOR_ROLL_CALL_230-51">[51]</a></sup> which, according to the bill's sponsor, would "rein in the dragnet collection of data by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency" title="National Security Agency">National Security Agency</a> (NSA) and other government agencies, increase transparency of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Court" title="Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court" class="mw-redirect">Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court</a>

(FISC), provide businesses the ability to release information regarding

FISA requests, and create an independent constitutional advocate to

argue cases before the FISC."<sup id="cite_ref-Guardian_52-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-Guardian-52">[52]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Regulatory_reform">Regulatory reform</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">In December 2011, Brooks voted in support of H.R. 10, the

"Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act," which would

have required Congressional approval for any "major regulations" issued

by the executive branch but, unlike the 1996 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Review_Act" title="Congressional Review Act">Congressional Review Act</a>, would not require the president's signature or override of a probable presidential veto.<sup id="cite_ref-wapo111207_53-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-wapo111207-53">[53]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-54">[54]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

</font><dl><dd><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to a survey by the Christian Coalition, Brooks is also opposed to the idea of government-run health care.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare_31-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare-31">[31]</a></sup> He voted yes on repealing the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act</span>.<sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare_31-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-mobrooks-healthcare-31">[31]</a></sup></font></dd></dl><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Sanctuary_city">Sanctuary city</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks said <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham,_Alabama" title="Birmingham, Alabama">Birmingham</a>, a city where Alabama's strict immigration law has been criticized, needed to prepare to spend more money if it wants to be a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_city" title="Sanctuary city">sanctuary city</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigrants_in_the_U.S." title="Illegal immigrants in the U.S." class="mw-redirect">illegal immigrants</a>.

He told Blandin, "They need to start picking up the tab that American

citizens are having to pick up. If Birmingham wants to be a sanctuary

city, or wants to head in that direction, that is their decision. They

are absolutely wrong."<sup id="cite_ref-brookswhntimmigrants_43-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookswhntimmigrants-43">[43]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Statements_on_Socialism">Statements on Socialism</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">In April 2011, Brooks stated, during a congressional speech, "Folks,

we are here today forcing this issue because America is at risk. We are

at risk of insolvency and bankruptcy because the socialist members of

this body choose to spend money that we do not have." After Brooks made

this remark, Democratic Congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Ellison_%28politician%29" title="Keith Ellison (politician)" class="mw-redirect">Keith Ellison</a>

asked that Brooks' comments be "taken down." This request forced Brooks

to either have the comment stricken from the record or defend the

remark and wait until later in the day for a formal ruling over whether

or not the comment was inappropriate. Brooks chose to have the remark

withdrawn before he continued with his speech. Ellison accepted the

withdrawal.<sup id="cite_ref-brookssocialistbham_55-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookssocialistbham-55">[55]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Afterwards, Brooks stated that he did not regret his initial remark

and that he thought those who objected to his comment, particularly

those within the Democratic Party, were "thin-skinned."<sup id="cite_ref-brookssocialistbham_55-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookssocialistbham-55">[55]</a></sup> He stated, "People could quite clearly infer that socialism is what the other guys are promoting."</span><sup id="cite_ref-brookssocialistbham_55-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-brookssocialistbham-55">[55]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Technology">Technology</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Brooks voted yes on terminating funding for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Public_Radio" title="National Public Radio" class="mw-redirect">NPR</a>.</span><sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-brooks-technology_56-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-brooks-technology-56">[56]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-ontheissues-vote11-hv192_57-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-ontheissues-vote11-hv192-57">[57]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-58" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-58">[58]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Marijuana">Marijuana</span></font></h4><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Brooks has stated that legalization of marijuana is a state issue<sup id="cite_ref-59" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-59">[59]</a></sup> and has voted in favor of bills to allow doctors in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Health_Administration" title="Veterans Health Administration">Veterans Health Administration</a> to discuss <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana" title="Medical marijuana" class="mw-redirect">medical marijuana</a> with patients<sup id="cite_ref-60" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-60">[60]</a></sup> and block the DEA from taking enforcement actions against medical marijuana in states that have legalized it.<sup id="cite_ref-61" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Brooks#cite_note-61">[61]</a></sup></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><h3><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Committee_assignments">Committee assignments</span></font></h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

</font><table class="metadata plainlinks ambox ambox-content ambox-BLP_sources" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image">

<div style="width:52px"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" height="40" width="40" /></font></div>

</td><td class="mbox-text"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mbox-text-span">This section of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons" title="Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons">biography of a living person</a> <b>needs additional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citations</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>. <span class="hide-when-compact">Please help by adding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources">reliable sources</a>. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced <b>must be removed immediately</b>, especially if potentially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Libel" title="Wikipedia:Libel">libelous</a> or harmful.</span> <i>(March 2014)</i></span></font></td></tr></tbody></table><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

</font><ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Armed_Services" title="United States House Committee on Armed Services">Committee on Armed Services</a></b>

</font><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Armed_Services_Subcommittee_on_Oversight_and_Investigations" title="United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations">Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations</a></font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Armed_Services_Subcommittee_on_Strategic_Forces" title="United States House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces">Subcommittee on Strategic Forces</a></font></li></ul>

</li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Science,_Space_and_Technology" title="United States House Committee on Science, Space and Technology">Committee on Science, Space and Technology</a></b>

</font><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Science_Subcommittee_on_Space_and_Aeronautics" title="United States House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics" class="mw-redirect">Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics</a> (Vice-Chairman)</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Science_Subcommittee_on_Energy" title="United States House Science Subcommittee on Energy">Subcommittee on Energy</a></font></li></ul>

</li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Foreign_Affairs" title="United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs">Committee on Foreign Affairs</a></b>

</font><ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Foreign_Affairs_Subcommittee_on_Terrorism,Nonproliferation,and_Trade" title="United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade">Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade</a></font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Foreign_Affairs_Subcommittee_on_Asia_and_the_Pacific" title="United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific">Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific</a></font></li></ul>

</li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee" title="Republican Study Committee">Republican Study Committee</a></b></font></li></ul><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
===

</font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Another part of the Tea Party Wave of 2010, Mo Brooks </b>was swept into

office after defeating incumbent Republican Parker Griffith in the GOP

primary that year, and Steve Raby in the general election. And he’s

managed to keep winning his seat, but of late, he has been making some

unflinchingly xenophobic s comments that are growing more and more

reminiscent of Alabama politicians like <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGeorge_Wallace&t=YzZkYWFjNjYwYmUxN2UxZDBiYWIyOWU4Y2U1ODEzYmU1ZDBiY2RhMyxGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">George Wallace</a>

from a half century ago every time he approaches a microphone. Mostly

for the inherent bigotry that seems to drive his policy-making.</font></p>

<ul><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On Nov. 2^nd, 2010, just before the election that

year, Mo Brooks commented on those who passed the Affordable Care Act,

which he has consistently been a part of the caucus trying to repeal it,

again and again, since reaching office.

“<em>Obama’s health care

plan is written by a committee whose head says he doesn’t understand

it, sought to be passed by Congressmen who won’t read it and want to be

exempt from it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a treasury

chief who did not pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is

overweight, and financed by a country that is broke. What could possibly

go wrong?</em>”


So the people behind the ACA didn’t actually read or understand it, if he is to be believed.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In April 2011, on the floor of the House, In April 2011, Brooks stated, during a congressional speech,

“<em>Folks,

we are here today forcing this issue because America is at risk. We are

at risk of insolvency and bankruptcy because the socialist members of

this body choose to spend money that we do not have.</em>”

After

Brooks made this remark, Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison asked that

Brooks’ comments be “taken down.” This request forced Brooks to either

have the comment stricken from the record or defend the remark and wait

until later in the day for a formal ruling over whether or not the

comment was inappropriate. Brooks chose to have the remark withdrawn

before he continued with his speech. Ellison accepted the withdrawal.

Afterwards,

though, Brooks pressed further, saying he did not regret his initial

remark and that he thought those who objected to his comment,

particularly those within the Democratic Party, were “thin-skinned”.

“<em>People could quite clearly infer that socialism is what the other guys are promoting</em>.”

</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In June 2011, Brooks chafed at the critics of Alabama’s harsh new

immigration laws, claiming that those in Birmingham who opposed it

wanted the town to become a “sanctuary city”.</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On January 28^th, 2013, <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fpushbacknow.net%2F2011%2F07%2F01%2Fillegal-immigration-heats-up-in-alabama%2F&t=MmQwYjZkYzgxMzc2NTEwZWExY2Y4MmVlY2ExMTQ3NDUyNTA1ZjdkZixGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">Mo

Brooks proposed a new constitutional amendment that would make it an

impeachable offense for an annual fiscal budget to be signed off on by

the president that was not balanced</a>. Keep in mind, this would have

meant that every president since Bill Clinton in 2000 would have been

impeached, including George W. Bush all 8 years he was in office, and

easily every president that held office since World War II.</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In October 2013, during the government shutdown, Rep. Brooks stated

that the U.S. wouldn’t really default on its debt if the Republicans

refused to raise the debt ceiling, because it generates&nbsp; ten times the

tax revenue than we owed interest on debt to other nations. Of course, <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2Feconomy%2F2013%2F01%2F28%2F1503381%2Fgop-congressman-deficit-impeach%2F&t=N2VhZjc5ZjkzYTRmZWU4ODdhZTllYWYzY2RmNzllNDQ1NzlhMjE0ZCxGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">his math neglected to mention that the tax revenue also had to be used on every bit of government spending</a>, as well, and debt interest would not be the only expenditure it was spent on.

It’s

even crazier because his amendment also specified that a president

could not counteract that deficit by raising taxes, meaning he could

only fix things by making cuts to spending. Not shockingly, his plan

didn’t go too far (because it’s stupid).</font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In December, 2013, not two months after the government shutdown, <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rightwingwatch.org%2Fcontent%2Frep-mo-brooks-suggests-democrats-might-start-war-2014-distract-voters-obamacare&t=MWVlZWVmOGRmMDI1MmYwOWJhYjRiYzU0ZmViOWY5OGNkNDhiOTFlNixGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">Mo Brooks predicted that the Obama administration would reverse course, and suddenly be going out of their way to foment a war</a> somewhere in the world to help them win the 2014 elections.<a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rightwingwatch.org%2Fcontent%2Frep-mo-brooks-suggests-democrats-might-start-war-2014-distract-voters-obamacare&t=MWVlZWVmOGRmMDI1MmYwOWJhYjRiYzU0ZmViOWY5OGNkNDhiOTFlNixGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">

</a>(Note:

Considering the administration has opted not to go into Iran, Syria, or

Ukraine, and is going out of their way not to get troops on the ground

in Iraq… and even if they did, voters polled are currently AGAINST going

to war, after nearly 14 years of it in Iraq and Afghanistan… he’s WAY

off base on this.)</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On July 14^th, 2014, Mo Brooks told local Alabama television station WHNT of undocumented immigrants, “<a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=denied%3A+http%3A%2F%2Famericasvoice.org%2Fblog%2Falabama_congressman_mo_brooks_would_do_anything_short_of_shooting_immigrant%2F&t=ZjgyYzA0ODUyYmZkZDViNWNkYTE2NTNhZDc3YTQwNWNlZDg2MGIyOCxGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">As your Representative on the House floor, I would do anything short of shooting them.</a>” So good news, Alabama! Mo Brooks is apparently willing to beat or stab suspected illegal immigrants for you!</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On August 1^st, 2014, Mo Brooks appeared on “All in with Chris Hayes”, and, mostly unprovoked, went on <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fcrooksandliars.com%2F2014%2F08%2Frep-mo-brooks-deport-dreamers-deport-them&t=NWRkNmJlMmFiOWEzNjRjMTQxZTQxZjRlYjZlYjZlNjhjZTZjM2U1MixGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">an anti-immigration tirade</a>

where he said he spoke for his party when he said he wanted to throw

every undocumented person in America out of the country.&nbsp; Including

child refugees from Central America. And while that might seem a

staggering immigration goal, he didn’t stop at that. He also wanted to

throw out the DREAMers, who were protected under actual law from

deportation. On behalf of his whole party.</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On August 4^th, 2014, Mo Brooks was no longer content to

appear perhaps a tad bigoted with his anti-immigrant opinions, and he

rolled up his sleeves and made it plain. He went on Laura Ingraham’s

radio show to claim that “<a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Ftalkingpointsmemo.com%2Flivewire%2Fmo-brooks-white-people-discriminated-against&t=ZGVjODkyYTE1ZjI0ZTA4MDZmZmY0YTQwYjBjODI5YjJjZDdkZTM3NyxGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">Democrats have launched a War on Whites with their policies</a>”.

(please note, he did not name a single piece of legislation to back

that up). And while some thought he would dial it back after criticism

and say he misspoke… nope. He doubled, tripled, then quadrupled down on

the statement, reiterating the claim in two separate interviews, one

with USA Today, in the following days, even going as far to specify the

war was against “White Males” on the Steve Malzberg Show.

It wasn’t a fluke, he was seriously campaigning on the “War on Whites”. By August 7^th,

Reince Priebus finally decided to come out and criticize him comments

(likely after he had some internal polling that showed being that racist

wasn’t helping the GOP, but he needed to be sure first).</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On August 5^th, Mo Brooks also <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fblog-briefing-room%2Fnews%2F214336-gop-lawmaker-dreamers-shouldnt-be-allowed-in-military-because&t=NDIzNDBmMDc3MjcxOGRmOTAzMzY5ZmRlMTA5NmRjNzc0YmJjOTM2NyxGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">decried

the fact that immigrants being granted citizenship by serving in the

United States military and should be thrown out of the service</a>, because they “cannot be trusted with weapons of mass destruction”.<a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fblogs%2Fblog-briefing-room%2Fnews%2F214336-gop-lawmaker-dreamers-shouldnt-be-allowed-in-military-because&t=NDIzNDBmMDc3MjcxOGRmOTAzMzY5ZmRlMTA5NmRjNzc0YmJjOTM2NyxGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">

</a>(This

is a bit sad, because the United States allowed naturalized citizenship

with military service in World War II, and even historically as far

back as the Revolutionary War, when Valley Forge hero Baron von Steuben

was granted citizenship and land by George Washington after the war for

his service to America.)</font></li><li><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On August 21^st, 2014, in spite of how disastrous the 2013 Government Shutdown was for the image of the Republican Party, <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.al.com%2Fnews%2Fhuntsville%2Findex.ssf%2F2014%2F08%2Ffederal_government_shutdown_co.html&t=OGEwNDFiYTBmNzI2YmY1ODIxMjNmMjNkMGViNDY3Mjg3NjNhZDIxZixGQmFBMG1Kcg%3D%3D">Mo Brooks started talking about doing it again at the end of September</a>.</font></li></ul><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
Mo Brooks has authored 14 pieces of legislation in the

past four years, all of which are focused on anti-immigration measures

(in the vein of, “throw ‘em all out, of course)</span>. And he continues to get

more aggressive in his anti-immigrant fervor, in spite of the call from

the 2012 Post Election Autopsy done by the RNC that said they would

need to do something to reform immigration, and stop demonizing

Hispanics, or they would never win a national election again.

Mo Brooks seems to be a speed bump in that road, to be sure. A fervently racist one.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==
</font></div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">endit1</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>