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Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday withdrew his endorsement of Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama in the state's open seat GOP Senate primary.
The former president slammed Brooks as "woke" and criticized the six-term conservative congressman as disloyal for doubting Trump’s repeated unfounded claims that his 2020 presidential election loss was due to massive voter fraud.
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"Mo Brooks of Alabama made a horrible mistake recently when he went ‘woke’ and stated, referring to the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, ‘Put that behind you, put that behind you,’" Trump said in a statement released by his Save America political action committee.
Former President Donald Trump welcomes candidate for U.S. Senate and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., to the stage during a "Save America" rally at York Family Farms on Aug. 21, 2021 in Cullman, Alabama. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Brooks, at a rally with the former president last August in Cullman, Alabama, was booed by the crowed after he urged them to move past the 2020 election results, to "put that behind you" and "look forward."
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Trump, in his statement dropping his endorsement of Brooks, wrote that after he heard Brooks’ comments from last summer's rally, "I said, ‘Mo, you just blew the Election, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ Very sad but, since he decided to go in another direction, so have I, and I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate."
Trump pledged "I will be making a new Endorsement in the near future!"
A source close to Brooks told Fox News soon after Trump's announcement that the congressman intends to stay in the Senate race.
And a couple of hours later Brooks said in a statement that "there’s only one conservative option in this race, and I am confident that the people of Alabama will see that on Election Day."
"I repeat what has prompted President Trump’s ire. The only legal way America can prevent 2020’s election debacle is for patriotic Americans to focus on and win the 2022 and 2024 elections so that we have the power to enact laws that give us honest and accurate elections," Brooks emphasized.
Even with Trump’s endorsement, Brooks struggled with fundraising. And Brooks, the former front-runner in the primary race, now trails by double digits in the polls to his top two rival GOP Senate candidates.
They are Mike Durant, a business executive and former U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot who saw combat in "Desert Storm" in Iraq and who survived a crash during fighting in Somalia that was spotlighted in the movie "Black Hawk Down," and Katie Britt, the former president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama and a former chief of staff to longtime Sen. Richard Shelby.
The plunge in the polls by Brooks comes after weeks of television and radio ads slamming him on multiple issues, including anti-Trump comments he made during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, when the congressman was backing Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential bid.
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The winner of May 24 GOP Senate primary in the solidly red state of Alabama will be considered the clear front-runner in November’s general election in the race to succeed Shelby, who’s retiring after serving three and a half decades in the Senate.
Trump’s withdrawal of his endorsement of Brooks was no surprise. Last week the former president for the first time publicly criticized Brooks, calling his Senate campaign "disappointing" in an interview with the Washington Examiner where he hinted that he might drop his support of the congressman.
Brooks was a strong Trump ally in the House during Trump’s four years in the White House, and he spoke at the then-president's rally on Jan. 6, 2021, just before the attack on the U.S. Capitol by right wing extremists bent on disrupting congressional certification of now-President Biden's 2020 election victory.
Brooks has long showcased his support and loyalty to the former president since landing Trump’s Senate endorsement last April. This week Brooks is continuing his "Meet MAGA Mo Townhall Tour" across the state.
And this week Brooks stepped up his criticism Britt - and of longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, a top intra-Republican Party Trump rival. Brooks’ campaign launched a new ad on Monday that charged McConnell was a "weak-kneed, debt junkie, open-border RINO Republican."
Sources close to the former president confirm to Fox News that that Britt met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida last month. And Durant huddled with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
Brooks, in his statement continued to target McConnell, arguing that "it’s disappointing that….President Trump lets Mitch McConnell manipulate him again. Every single negative TV ad against our campaign has come from McConnell and his allies. I wish President Trump wouldn’t fall for McConnell’s ploys, but, once again, he has."
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