Trump backs Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama Senate race, who cheered Capitol rioters for ‘kicking ass’
Former President Donald Trump is throwing his support behind Rep. Mo Brooks in next year’s Alabama Senate race, a staunch supporter who cheered the Jan. 6 crowd at the Capitol for “taking down names and kicking ass.”
“Few Republicans have as much COURAGE and FIGHT as Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday.
“(Brooks is) a great Conservative Republican leader, who will stand up for America First no matter what obstacles the Fake News Media, RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), or Socialist Democrats may place in his path,” the former president said.
Trump added that the right-wing lawmaker “has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Brooks is gunning for retiring Sen. Richard Shelby’s seat in the deep-red state in 2022. Shelby, a six-term senator who’s held the seat since 1987, announced in February that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection.
The only other announced candidate for the seat is Lynda Blanchard, another Trump loyalist who served as ambassador to former First Lady Melania Trump’s home country of Slovenia.
Blanchard said Wednesday that she’s steadfast in her commitment to Trump, despite the ex-president backing her primary opponent.
“He is the greatest President of my lifetime, and I intend to go to Washington as the United States Senator from Alabama to represent the America First agenda that President Trump championed every day,” Blanchard said.
Brooks previously lost a 2017 Alabama Senate primary election to Roy Moore, a firebrand Trump favorite who wound up losing the election himself to Democratic candidate Doug Jones amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Brooks is one of Trump’s most ardent allies in Congress and joined the former president at the Jan. 6 rally near the White House that led to the violent storming of the Capitol.
“Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,” Brooks told the roaring crowd of thousands. Minutes later, a mob stormed the Capitol building to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election win.
Brooks has claimed he was merely trying to fire up the crowd for the next election cycle and wasn’t advocating for the violence that followed.
With News Wire Services
