In a last-ditch effort to keep Mr. Trump in his corner, Mr. Brooks, who spoke at the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021, used footage from that speech in a new television ad last week. Looking straight into the camera, Mr. Brooks said in the ad, “On January 6th, I proudly stood with President Trump in the fight against voter fraud.”
But it was not enough. Mr. Trump still accused him on Wednesday of going “woke.”
Mr. Trump is obsessed with the success rate of his endorsement in Republican primaries, and after issuing dozens of endorsements across the country in the last year, his power will be tested in a series of tough races. Alabama has long been seen as one of the places he was most vulnerable to defeat.
“When I endorsed Mo Brooks, he took a 44-point lead and was unstoppable,” Mr. Trump claimed.
Mr. Brooks said in a statement that, even “knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement,” he has told Mr. Trump that the 2020 election results as certified by Congress cannot be overturned. “Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.”
“I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution,” Mr. Brooks said. “I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man.”
Mr. Trump has seen his preferred candidate in Alabama defeated before. In 2017, he endorsed Senator Luther Strange, who was defeated by Roy S. Moore in a special election primary. Mr. Trump then endorsed Mr. Moore, who was defeated by Doug Jones, a Democrat. In 2020, Mr. Trump was more successful, backing Tommy Tuberville over the former president’s onetime attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Mr. Tuberville won in a landslide.
This Saturday, Mr. Trump will campaign in Georgia, where he is backing former Senator David Perdue’s challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp, who angered Mr. Trump by certifying the state’s 2020 election results.
On Tuesday evening, Mr. Trump announced the endorsement of another Republican challenger in Georgia: John Gordon, who is running against the state’s attorney general, Chris Carr. Mr. Trump again cited the postelection period in 2020 and accused Mr. Carr of doing “absolutely nothing” to support the former president’s baseless claims of voter fraud.
