Mo Brooks is getting what’s coming to him

| 12:01 pm EDT July 29, 2021
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Following the harrowing testimony of four police officers who defended the Capitol during the insurrection, we got some good news about one of the instigators. Politico reported on Mo Brooks’s request that the Justice Department defend him in the lawsuit filed by Eric Swalwell, which was declined. Good. Let him pay for his own defense. He created the situation, and he should defend himself. The taxpayers certainly should not finance his defense.

The suit filed by Swalwell named Brooks and several other defendants, including Trump, Trump, Jr., and Giuliani. At the heart of this suit is the allegation that Brooks and his co-defendants incited the insurrection. Recall that Brooks spoke during the pre-insurrection rally, telling attendees: “Today is the day you start taking down names and kicking ass.” He went on to talk about how early settlers in this country “sacrificed their blood” to make our nation what it is, and asked the attendees: “Are you ready to do the same?” Brooks’s speech is classic incitement.

Under cover of his position in the House, Brooks approached the DOJ to handle his defense, claiming that he was “acting in his official capacity.” Really? Since when do we pay our representatives to incite violence? Brooks took it upon himself to become a part of one of the most devastating acts of domestic terrorism in our nation. He knew or should have known that his words would incite the attendees, and he knew full well that he was not speaking in any official capacity. The DOJ told him as much in their filing, by stating that Brooks was engaging in “campaign activity,” which is not protected because his decision to participate was “not the kind a Member of Congress holds office to perform.” Had Brooks been speaking about infrastructure, the American rescue plan, or any other issues ultimately brought before Congress, things would have been different. Instead, he was outside of the Capitol, purposely trying to fire people up. Besides, Brooks has been charged with “fomenting violence against the Capitol,” which the DOJ said is clearly outside the scope of Brooks’s duties as a congressman.

Even as the DOJ was giving Brooks the bad news, Politico reported that House counsel Doug Letter also rejected Brooks’s arguments because “the House rarely intervenes in legal disputes between individual lawmakers, particularly when they’re not related to official House business.” Nice, try Brooks. Brooks made his bed, and he must now lie in it. He makes plenty of money and can hire his own defense counsel, so he had best get to choosing.

People like Mo Brooks do not think before they act. They were so big and mighty that day. Brooks, Trump, and all the rest knew full well that Joe Biden won the election. Instead of accepting the results and moving on, they decided to stir up trouble, and now, that trouble is coming back to bite them in their asses. They are all deserving of any problems they experience that stem from the assault on our Capitol and should suffer the consequences.