By Brandon Moseley
After the leak of potentially incriminating evidence against him, Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL05) released a statement blasting the Jan. 6 Commission.
Leaked testimony suggested Ali Alexander, the founder of the pro-Trump group Stop the Steal, allegedly implicated Brooks in what the Commission claims was a planned insurrection to undermine the 2020 election results and somehow maintain President Donald J. Trump (R) in power.
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Witch Hunt Committee does the people’s business secretly, not in public, which begs scrutiny and questions,” Brooks said in a statement. “What truths [are] the Witch Hunt Committee afraid to share with the American people? Why do Pelosi Democrats insist on a 'Star Chamber' inquisition, wherein only one-sided, biased, partisan evidence is likely to ever see the light of day? Why does the Witch Hunt Committee selectively leak witness testimony and evidence to the public?”
While continuing to refer to the Jan. 6 Commission as "The Witch Hunt Committee," Brooks suggested that all witness testimony and evidence be made public.
“America suffered through this secretive, leaky process when a different Pelosi Witch Hunt Committee conducted impeachment efforts in a secret, classified Capitol basement room," Brooks said. "Fortunately, Republican Congressmen 'stormed the SCIF' and shamed Socialist Democrats into conducting impeachment proceedings in public, for the whole world to see.
“One would have thought Socialist Democrats would have learned from the impeachment debacle, but public proceedings have never been the way of dictatorial governments nor, apparently, of Socialist Democrats and their Witch Hunt Committee. The Witch Hunt Committee’s secretive process causes rampant, and often false, speculation by Fake News Media outlets."
Brooks claims a case in point is a single text dated December 16, 2020, from a sender who claims to be Ali Alexander to Brooks.
The text is from 202-734-8087, a number that Brooks claims his cell phone did not recognize.
The text that allegedly implicates Brooks in the conspiracy states: “Congressman, this is Ali Alexander. I am the founder of Stop the Steal, the protests happening in all 50 states. We met years ago back in 2010, during the tea party when you were first elected. I texted the wrong number. I had intended to invite you to our giant Saturday prayer rally in DC, this past weekend. Also Gen. Flynn should be giving you a ring. We stand ready to help. Jan. 6th is a big moment for our republic.”
According to Brooks, the points to emphasize about this text are:
Brooks’ cell phone did not recognize the text sender.
While the person sending the text claims to be Ali Alexander, [Mo Brooks] has no personal knowledge about the sender or the cell number that would confirm, to Brooks’ knowledge, that the purported sender is in fact the person who claims to have sent the text.
Assuming Ali Alexander actually sent the text, Alexander states that “We met years ago back in 2010”, which is a tacit admission by the sender that Alexander and Brooks have had no communications or interactions for more than a decade on or before December 16, 2020.
The text’s contents are 100% benign. First, the sender apologizes for not inviting Brooks to an event Brooks did not go to. Second, the sender states “Gen. Flynn should be giving you a ring”, a “ring” that, to the best of Brooks’ recollection, never happened. Brooks says nothing in the text references the Save America Rally at the Ellipse on January 6, 2020, nor the attack on the U.S. Capitol a mile and a half away sometime after the Ellipse Rally began.
The only point in the text the sender and Brooks agree on is that “Jan. 6th is a big moment for our republic”, a truism because January 6 is the day established by federal law to resolve all presidential election contests.
Brooks maintains that outside of this possible text message with someone who claimed to be “Ali Alexander,” Brooks has no recollection of any other communications involving Brooks and someone claiming to be “Ali Alexander,” and, after a search involving cell phone records and emails, Brooks has found no communications that purport to involve Brooks and anyone claiming to be “Ali Alexander.”
Brooks denies that he helped plan the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and called that charge “absurd, outrageous and defamatory.”
Alexander allegedly testified (since the hearings are actually in secret this is based on reports leaked to the mainstream press) that he had phone conversations with Brooks' staff about a 'Dear Colleague' letter and how his activists could be helpful, according to POLITICO. He also reported speaking with Rep. Paul Gosar (R, AZ) over the phone several times, as well as a few in-person meetings with Rep. Andy Biggs (R, AZ).
Alexander, at one point, posted a video online claiming that it was solely his idea to stop Congress's Jan. 6 certification session and that he worked with Gosar, Biggs and Brooks to try and make it happen.
Brooks is a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate. Brooks is in his sixth term representing Alabama's Fifth Congressional District.
(Original reporting by POLITICO and Salon contributed to this report.)
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
