- Brooks said he wore a body armor to Trump’s Jan. 6 rally because he was tipped off about “risks” two days before.
- He also slept in his office instead of his condo because of the warning he received.
- It’s not known who he got the warning from and if he told other lawmakers about it.
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Republican lawmaker Mo Brooks said he wore body armor to former US President Donald Trump’s rally at the Ellipse on January 6, claiming he was tipped off about “risks” in the days leading up to the event, reported Slate.
“I was warned on Monday [Jan. 4] that there might be risks associated with the next few days,” Brooks told Slate politics writer, Jim Newell.
“And as a consequence of those warnings, I did not go to my condo. Instead, I slept on the floor of my office. And when I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor,” the Alabama Congressman added.
“That’s why I was wearing that nice little windbreaker,” he continued. “To cover up the body armor.”
It is unclear whether Brooks warned other lawmakers of “risks.” Brooks also declined to name who had warned him.
Commenting on the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot, he said the committee’s intent is not to find the truth, but “to create political propaganda that may be used in the elections in 2022 and perhaps 2024,” Brooks told Slate.
Brooks also said the committee should investigate “intelligence failures” that led to the Capitol riots instead, Newell told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview.
Brooks is currently fielding a lawsuit from Rep. Eric Swalwell, who alleged Brooks incited violence at the Capitol by stoking protestors to “start taking down names and kicking ass.”
The Department of Justice has refused to defend him, saying the rally did not constitute official work duties.
Brooks and Swalwell did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comments.
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