Mo Brooks seeks arrest of man who served papers in garage
Published 6:09 am Thursday, June 17, 2021
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks said Wednesday that his wife has sworn out an arrest warrant for the man who entered their garage to serve papers in a lawsuit a colleague brought against him over the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate said a warrant on a trespassing charge was issued against the detective who served the papers. Brooks had released home security camera footage of a man driving up to his house and appearing to walk into the garage to give paperwork to Brooks’ wife notifying the congressman that he was being sued.
“Mo and I take our security very seriously, as do all families,” Martha Brooks said in a statement released by her husband’s office
She said she hoped it will cause the process server, “to think twice before illegally invading the sanctity of someone else’s home, and put those who would threaten our security on notice that we will pursue illegal actions to the fullest extent of the law.”
Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, who served as a House manager in Donald Trump’s last impeachment trial, filed a lawsuit in March against the former president and others, including Brooks, whose actions he charges led to the Capitol insurrection.
Brooks has come under fire for telling the pro-Trump rally that preceded the riot that, “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
Brooks has maintained his words were intended to fire up the crowd for the next election cycle but were misconstrued as advocating the violence that ensued.
“Congressman Eric Swalwell lied in his politically motivated, meritless lawsuit against President Donald Trump and me when he falsely claimed I incited the January 6th Capitol violence,” Brooks said in a statement.
Brooks told The Associated Press earlier this year that, “anyone with a brain larger than a pea knew that I was not advocating violence,”
Swalwell had indicated in an earlier court filing that he was having trouble serving the lawsuit papers to Brooks. The process server, Christian Seklecki, wrote in a court affidavit that he walked into the open garage and up to Martha Brooks’ car and put the papers at her feet. She then yelled at him to leave, he wrote.
Brooks is one of three Republicans running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who is retiring. Katie Boyd Britt, the former head of the Alabama Business Council and Shelby’s former chief of staff, and former Trump administration Ambassador Lynda Blanchard are also running in the primary.
Wade Perry, the executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party, criticized Brooks last week for being upset over the lawsuit service.