- Rep. Mo Brooks says Trump asked him to remove Biden from office and declare a new presidential election.
- Trump withdrew his support for Brooks' Senate run on Tuesday.
- All of the actions Trump allegedly asked for would be unconstitutional and illegal.
Republican Rep. Mo Brooks said on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump pressed him to illegally remove President Joe Biden from office and hold a new presidential election, moves that are both unquestionably unconstitutional.
"President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency," Brooks said in a statement responding to Trump withdrawing his endorsement of Brook's US Senate campaign.
In a statement, Trump said that Brooks went "woke" by asking the former president to move beyond his repeatedly debunked lies about the 2020 election.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If Brooks' claims are true, it would fit within an established pattern of Trump pressing elected officials to reverse the 2020 election.
Former Vice President Mike Pence recently said Trump was "wrong" to suggest that the vice president could have unilaterally rejected a state's electoral college results when lawmakers met to formally count them on January 6, 2021. Trump's calls have even inspired fringe efforts to "decertify" results in an apparent bid to somehow claw back electoral college votes.
There is no precedence for such action. Each state's electors met on December 14, 2020. Their certified results were sent to Congress and lawmakers met on January 6, 2020, to formally count them. Biden was declared the winner and per the Constitution, he was inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Removing Biden from power would be the definition of a coup d'état. There is simply no such thing as a "special election for the presidency."
Brooks says that Trump withdrew his endorsement in part due to these disagreements. The congressman went from being the front-runner in the race to likely finishing third in the GOP contest to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby. Brooks has also struggled to raise money. By all accounts, Trump does not like endorsing losing candidates.
"I've told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement," Brooks said. "But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man."