Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) received a double dose of bad news on Tuesday in his fight against a lawsuit filed against him by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) over the Capitol insurrection.
Swalwell filed a lawsuit against Brooks for helping Donald Trump incite the insurrection. During incendiary remarks made at Trump’s January 6th rally, Brooks told the crowd that “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,” only for that crowd to violently storm the Capitol looking to murder lawmakers and overthrow democracy.
Brooks was served a subpoena after months of hiding in an effort to avoid it. But now he has to appear in court, and he won’t have House lawyers or the Department of Justice there to defend him.
Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports that the House and the DOJ have determined that Brooks was not acting in his official capacity as a congressman when he delivered his speech at a political rally and that inciting an attack on the Capitol is not part of a lawmaker’s official duty. Seriously, the DOJ actually had to point that out.
NEW: In court filing, House counsel says it won’t defend Mo BROOKS from Eric Swalwell’s Jan. 6 lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/LGDbHIxy5H
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 27, 2021
The filing included a letter from Chairwoman Lofgren to DOJ in which she notes that Brooks’ 1/6 comments were made at a political rally — and Brooks has defended them as political statements — which would mean they aren’t covered as official House business. pic.twitter.com/6c77Roqjln
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 27, 2021
NEWS: DOJ has joined the House in declining to represent BROOKS, saying that the department can’t conclude Brooks was acting in his official capacity when he spoke at Trump’s 1/6 rally. Story to come…
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 28, 2021
Someone at the Justice Department actually had to write this sentence: pic.twitter.com/wjPll6bPyr
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 28, 2021
Now Brooks will have to retain his own legal counsel unless he’s foolish enough to try defending himself just like he was foolish when he doubled down on inciting insurrection at CPAC despite claiming that he wasn’t trying to incite an insurrection on January 6th.
Brooks is on his own and will be held accountable for his actions in court. And anything uncovered by this lawsuit will likely be of great interest to the Select Committee investigating the insurrection.
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