Former President Donald Trump is worried about how Rep. Mo Brooks, the candidate he endorsed in the Alabama Senate primary is performing and is considering pulling his endorsement.
“Mo Brooks is disappointing,” Trump told the Washington Examiner. “I’m determining right now, has Mo Brooks — has he changed?”
It is the first time Trump has publicly criticized Brooks. Privately, he is reportedly not pleased with Brooks over comments he made at a rally in Alabama last summer when he told voters to move past the 2020 election. He was booed, according to Al.com.
“I’m disappointed that he gave an inarticulate answer, and I’ll have to find out what he means,” Trump told the Examiner on Tuesday. “If it meant what he sounded like, I would have no problem changing [my endorsement] because when you endorse somebody, you endorse somebody based on principle. If he changed that principle, I would have no problem doing that.”
Brooks said he has spoken to Trump within the last week and the possibility of “reneging on his endorsement was not mentioned.”
“He’s getting some really bad advice from someone — probably from the (Sen.) Mitch McConnell camp. But at this point in time, I cannot definitively identify who that bad advice is coming from,” Brooks added.
Trump’s endorsement of Brooks made him an early frontrunner to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby. However, after the hype died down, Brooks campaign failed to regain momentum.
The establishment arm of the party is pushing Shelby’s former chief of staff Katie Britt, local businessman Mike Durant is also running for the seat.
Among the three top candidates Britt is leading the money race. She ended the year with just over $4 million, while Brooks had just under $2 million.
New poll released on Tuesday shows more trouble for Brooks as he was in a distant third at 17.6%, behind Durant (33.8%) and Britt (32%). The poll was commissioned by ForestPAC, the political arm of the Alabama Forestry Association, which has endorsed Britt.
“It’s a very tight race between the three of them right now, and I’m not particularly happy,” Trump said.
The Alabama primary elections are scheduled for May 24, 2022.
