AP
- Rep. Mo Brooks shifted blame onto his staff for his alleged role in planning the "Stop the Steal" rally.
- Two planners told Rolling Stone that Brooks had been in contact with organizers for the event.
- Brooks said he had "no involvement" in planning it but said his staff may have done.
Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks sought to shift blame onto his staff for his alleged role in planning the rally which preceded the Capitol riot.
"I don't know if my staff did", Brooks responded when asked if he was part of the planning ofr for "Stop the Steal" event.
He continued: "but if they did I'd be proud of them for helping to put together a rally lawful under the First Amendment at the ellipse to protest voter fraud & election theft."
The exchange was posted to Twitter on Monday by CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona.
-Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) October 26, 2021
Brooks was responding to a Rolling Stone report which identified him as one of the lawmakers involved in planning the rally outside the Capitol building in Washington, DC.
Brooks spoke at the event, telling the audience to start "taking down names and kicking ass." He wearing body armor as he spoke, per a July report by the website Slate.
Shortly afterward, hundreds of pro-Trump protestors stormed the Capitol in a challenge to the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory.
The news came as the bipartisan congressional investigation into the events of January 6 heats up, with the panel moving on Monday to pursue criminal contempt charges against Steve Bannon, the former Trump aide who refused to share information about any role he may have played that day.
Two people who planned the rally beforehand told Rolling Stone that multiple people involved in planning the "Stop the Steal" rallies communicated with members of Congress in the run-up to the January 6 event, one of whom was Brooks.
The planners also said they had been in communication with Reps. Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert.
Brooks has also been identified as involved in planning the "Wild Protest," a separate event held in DC on January 6 which sought to challenge Biden's election victory.
In a now-deleted live stream, Ali Alexander, who helped organize that protest, said that Brooks along with Gosar and Biggs had come up with the idea for the protest, The Washington Post reported.
"I was the person who came up with the Jan. 6 idea with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks, and Congressman Andy Biggs," Alexander said.
"We four schemed up on putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting so that - who we couldn't lobby - we could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body hearing our loud roar from outside."
Insider contacted Brooks's office for comment.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/3vJ2qHM
No comments:
Post a Comment