Jan. 6 panel "re-doing" subpoena after failing to find Mo Brooks
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Republican Rep. Mo Brooks (center). Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
The Jan. 6 select committee is re-issuing its subpoena for Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) after process servers failed to track down the Republican congressman for nearly a month and a half, the panel's chair said Wednesday.
Why it matters: The committee has honed in on Brooks' allegation in March that former President Trump asked him to "rescind the 2020 elections" and "hold a new special election for the presidency."
- Trump denied the accusation, which was made after he withdrew his endorsement for Brooks' U.S. Senate candidacy.
- Brooks lost his race on Tuesday to former Senate aide Katie Britt, whom Trump endorsed earlier this month.
What they're saying: "I have redone his subpoena. We haven't been able to serve him. He is the only member we haven't been able to serve," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the committee, told reporters at the Capitol.
- Thompson said the panel "couldn't find him" because he "hasn't been here [at the Capitol], he's been campaigning. Running for the Senate."
- "They're only good for so long ... it's the same document, we just have to make it current," he added.
Flashback: Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) had similar trouble serving Brooks last year in a civil suit alleging Brooks and others were responsible for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The other side: Brooks told reporters on Wednesday, "I've never been served with a subpoena." He added, "It doesn't make any difference to me. They've already got all my information."
- Asked if he'll comply, Brooks said, "I don't know what I'll do ... I don't know what's in it."
What to watch: Brooks laid out several "basic" preconditions for testifying: He wants the deposition to be public and the questions asked by the committee members, not staff.
- He also wants questions to be "limited to matters that relate to Jan. 6," and to have an advanced look at any documents he'll be asked about.
- "He hasn't said that to us," Thompson said of those terms. "We will address anything that comes to us."
The big picture: The panel subpoenaed five House Republicans in May, including Brooks, citing their involvement in or connection to various aspects of Jan. 6.
- The other four, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have publicly declined to comply with the subpoenas.
- Thompson said Wednesday the panel will decide on the "next step" for those subpoenas “in the next week or two.”
