The wheels of justice grind slowly, but once in a while tension builds and they slip forward fast, like plate tectonics that release a quake. Today, a tectonic shift occurred with one court filing and the reverberations are being felt across the country.
Congressman Mo Brooks, the firebrand who gave one of the most aggressive speeches on January 6th, answered a lawsuit filed against him by pointing a finger directly at Trump and the White House, even going so far as to say that the White House “coordinated” with Brooks on what he was to say during his speech.
Why was the White House coordinating the language in a speech that was supposed to be a protest? It is a similar question as one we asked when Alex Jones revealed that the White House asked him to coordinate the march to the Capitol. The Jones assertion was merely on videotape, whereas Brooks’ assertion is in a signed court document. Brooks’ defense is that the White House was coordinating the whole event and asked him to play a role. According to Rawstory: [1]
The Alabama Republican was given Trump’s endorsement for the U.S. Senate after making the speech, which a lawsuit alleges helped incite the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, but Brooks’ attorneys responded [2] by insisting he only took part because the former president wanted him there.
Mo Brooks would likely have stripped for a bachelorette party if Trump asked. The more interesting part is the detail about Trump giving Brooks his endorsement for the U.S. Senate after making the speech. It does not prove that Trump knew what Brooks would say, but it is strong circumstantial evidence that a deal was made, “Get up and say this, and I’ll endorse you for the 2022 Senate seat.”
Back to the filing:
“Brooks only gave the Ellipse Speech because the White House asked him to, in his capacity as a United States Congressman,” the new court filing says. “But for the White House request, Brooks would not have appeared at the Ellipse Rally.”
Probably a lie. But it would be hard to prove he is lying. It doesn’t matter much compared to the next assertion:
The response also claims Brooks coordinated the contents of his speech with White House officials, who asked him to take part the day before the rally, and he justified his actions by baselessly arguing that Trump lost the election through fraud.
White House officials asked Brooks to take part in the rally? We thought it was a protest? So this actually was a rally and Brooks is swearing to the court that the White House not only organized who spoke but organized what was to be said? If Brooks was asked to speak the day before the rally, how much of his speech did Brooks actually write? Especially when he says it was “coordinated with the White House”? It sounds to us like the White House provided a lot of content for Brooks’ speech.
We are making an inference here, but this sounds to us like the White House coordinated everything with respect to January 6th – at least until the point that the rioters got to the Capitol steps – and if they coordinated that much, what more might they have coordinated? The “oddly late” military response?
Moreover, Brooks didn’t just say Trump was great, he got damned specific:
SIX MONTHS AGO this morning. Rep Mo Brooks (R-AL) gives "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass" speech
Per new civil case filing, Brooks says he only gave the speech because the White House asked him to do so. pic.twitter.com/bJSvWtndCE [3]
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) July 6, 2021 [4]
Taking down names. Kicking ass. It sounds like Brooks wanted specific people selected for a specific punishment. This is a tectonic shift in how the courts and law enforcement must look at January 6th. The wheels of justice grind slowly until so much tension builds they release a lot of energy all at once. We learned a great deal all at once today and it may cause aftershocks in the form of others’ coming forward.
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak