According to the Jan. 6 committee on Thursday, Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL05) was one of several Republican Congress members who sought a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the certification of electoral college results declaring Joe Biden president. Brooks has acknowledged making this request.
Testimony from former Trump aides named Brooks as well as Reps. Matt Gaetz (Florida), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Andy Biggs (Arizona) and Scott Perry (Pennsylvania) as having sought pardons from Trump in the days following the Capitol Building attack. An aide also claimed that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) contacted the White House Counsel’s office seeking a pardon.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) presented an email on Thursday from Brooks, dated Jan. 11, 2021, in which the congressman asked for presidential pardons for himself, Gaetz, and lawmakers who objected to the Electoral College vote for Arizona and Pennsylvania.
“President Trump asked me to send you this letter," the email reads. "This letter is also pursuant to a request from Matt Gaetz. As such, I recommend the president give general (all-purpose) pardons to the following groups of people: every congressman and senator who voted to reject the electoral vote submission of Arizona and Pennsylvania.”
Brooks’ office then provided the media with a full copy of the email, which included a concern that Democrats would “abuse America’s judicial system by targeting numerous Republicans with sham charges.”
“The email request says it all," Brooks said in a statement. "There was a concern Democrats would abuse the judicial system by prosecuting and jailing Republicans who acted pursuant to their Constitutional or statutory duties under 3 USC 15. Fortunately, with time passage, more rational forces took over and no one was [prosecuted] for performing their lawful duties, which means a pardon was unnecessary after all.”
Brooks sent a letter to the committee on Thursday agreeing to testify before the partisan panel if certain conditions were met.
“I will voluntarily appear before the Committee to give sworn testimony providing the five requirements mentioned above are met,” Brooks wrote. “However, if the Committee rejects these basic requirements, then I hereby incorporate by reference all objections of each Congressman who has objected to and contested Committee subpoenas and, by this letter, hereby assert those objections to this Committee should this Committee properly serve a subpoena on me."
Brooks’ conditions include a public hearing, deposition questions only related to Jan. 6 in scope and asked only by Congress members, disclosure of documents prior to the deposition, and a deposition date when Brooks is already in Washington D.C.
Congressman Brooks said, “I understand the Committee wishes to depose me concerning January 6 events and have heard a rumor the Committee 'issued' a subpoena for my appearance. I have on countless occasions been in public venues in Alabama, in my Congressional office, on the House Floor, and numerous places in between, yet no Committee subpoena has been served. That is puzzling.
“Quite frankly, I don’t believe I have knowledge of January 6 events that are not already known or that add to what the Committee already knows. As the Committee knows, I have already made multiple, lengthy sworn statements in the Eric Swalwell lawsuit in federal court and made multiple, lengthy written and oral statements elsewhere. Presumably, the Committee has already obtained and reviewed these statements.”
Former special assistant to the president Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Gaetz and Brooks “both advocated for there to be a blanket pardon” for members of Congress involved in a meeting that took place on Dec. 21, 2020, to discuss overturning the 2020 presidential election. They also asked for preemptive pardons for other members of Congress that were not at that meeting.
Brooks has repeatedly dismissed the committee’s work as a witch hunt.
(Original reporting by The Hill’s Mychael Schnell contributed to this report.)
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
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