Republican Congressman Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.) threw his staff under the bus Monday evening when he denied any involvement in planning the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, but said members of his staff might have.
Brooks was responding to a bombshell report from Rolling Stone that claimed two unnamed organizers of the rally said some Republican lawmakers and top members of their staff were closely involved with planing the day’s events.
“I had no intentions of going to that rally until Jan. 5, when the White House asked me to speak,” Brooks said in a phone interview with AL.com on Monday. The congressman said he doesn’t know if members of his staff were involved in the planning, but “quite frankly, I’d be proud of them if they did help organize a First Amendment rally to protest voter fraud and election theft.”
Brooks spoke at the rally on Jan. 6 wearing body armor and told the crowd, “today is the day American patriots start taking names and kicking ass.”
In January, rally organizer Ali Alexander named Brooks as a rally organizer in a video since deleted from Twitter. At the time, Brooks denied ever speaking with Alexander.
Rolling Stone reported Sunday that Brooks was among a group of Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Paul Gosar (Ariz.); Lauren Boebert, (Colo); Madison Cawthorn, (N.C); Andy Biggs, (Ariz.), and Louie Gohmert, (Texas), who either planned or had top staff members plan the Jan. 6 Ellipse Rally, which preceded the attack on the Capitol.
