Trump Pulls Endorsement from Mo Brooks in U.S. Senate Race; Brooks Responds

FILE – Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., speaks Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, at a rally in support of President Donald Trump called the “Save America Rally.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Former President Donald Trump has rescinded his endorsement of Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race in a major blow to the congressman’s campaign.

Trump on Wednesday blamed Brooks’ performance, poor campaign staffing and what Trump perceived as Brooks’ attempt to move Republicans beyond the former president’s false 2020 election fraud claims.

Brooks is in a three-way fight with Katie Britt, former head of the Business Council of Alabama, and Mike Durant, a businessman best known as the helicopter pilot shot down and held prisoner in the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” incident.

By dropping the endorsement, Trump appears to be trying to prevent any embarrassment of backing a losing candidate in a high-profile race.

This is an open Senate seat, following the announcement by Sen. Richard Shelby that he would retire after finishing his sixth term. Britt was once his chief of staff.

Brooks issued a statement regarding Trump’s action, saying in part:

“I repeat what has prompted President Trump’s ire. The only legal way America can prevent 2020’s election debacle is for patriotic Americans to focus on and win the 2022 and 2024 elections so that we have the power to enact laws that give us honest and accurate elections.

President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.

I’ve told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement. But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.”

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