- Mo Brooks told January 6 protesters to "start taking down names and kicking ass."
- At the same time, he was reportedly fearful that Antifa would kill him.
- According to a Washington Post report, Brooks may soon be requested to appear before the Capitol riot committee.
Republican Rep. Mo Brooks reportedly feared that Antifa was going to kill him in the days leading up to the January 6 insurrection as he continued working behind the scenes to assist President Trump and his allies in overturning the results.
Brooks, according to a Washington Post report, was told by another unnamed lawmaker that Antifa activists planned to infiltrate the January 6 rally that devolved into Capitol insurrection. The Alabama Republican was so fearful that he "stopped going home and began sleeping on his office floor," per The Post.
The House panel investigating the Capitol riot has not yet reached out to Brooks. But The Post reports that could change given his deep involvement in efforts to both raise doubt about the outcome of the 2020 election and involvement with the planning of the January 6 rally.
"[Brooks] said the election had been stolen," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who serves on the bipartisan Capitol riot panel, told The Post. "That's not true … He admitted he showed up at the rally in body armor, making really extravagant comments about overturning the election and urging people to take action."
In a statement to The Post, Brooks' campaign spokesman called on any such testimony to "be in public, not in secret and not denying the American people their right to hear the entirety of testimony by any and all witnesses," adding that the panel is a "Witch Hunt Committee"
After the insurrection, Brooks repeatedly claimed that Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters were among those who broke into the Capitol. This false flag conspiracy theory has been repeatedly debunked and in March of last year, Brooks admitted that the reported presence of either group was "certainly much less significant than I thought."
Ryan O'Toole, a former aide to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, claimed last week that Brooks was cheering when rioters forced lawmakers to flee on January 6 and delay confirming the election results for hours.
"One member, Mo Brooks, for example, was glad. He was cheering on the fact that the 117th Congress had started this way. And that was much to the dismay of others in the room," O'Toole told CNN's Jake Tapper.
Brooks has denied that he was celebrating the insurrection. He did wear body armor while giving his speech during the pre-riot rally when announced that "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass."