Takes ball home...

Trump takes back Senate endorsement for Mo Brooks

Trump said Brooks went "woke" by arguing it was legally impossible for the former president to be reinstated.

By QUINT FORGEY and NATALIE ALLISON

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday rescinded his endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Rep. Mo Brooks, citing comments by the House Republican that the results of the 2020 election cannot be overturned.

In a lengthy statement, Trump asserted that Brooks went “woke” by arguing it was legally impossible for the former president to be reinstated. Trump also criticized Brooks for hiring “a new campaign staff who ‘brilliantly’ convinced him to ‘stop talking about the 2020 Election.’”

“I am hereby withdrawing my Endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate,” Trump said. “I don’t think the great people of Alabama will disagree with me. Election Fraud must be captured and stopped, or we won’t have a Country anymore. I will be making a new Endorsement in the near future!”

A source close to Brooks confirmed he is staying in the race.

Brooks, a staunch Trump ally who spoke at the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection, won the former president’s endorsement last April to replace retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

But as Brooks’ Senate campaign has floundered, POLITICO reported last week that Shelby was preparing to pour as much as $6 million into the race by transferring his campaign money into a super PAC supporting Katie Britt, a former Shelby aide who is also running for the Senate seat.

Trump also told the Washington Examiner last week that he was considering reversing his endorsement of the “disappointing” Brooks and instead backing Britt or rival Mike Durant.

On Monday, Trump met with Durant at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss the race, according to a source with the Durant campaign and a source close to Trump. Durant, a retired Army pilot who survived a helicopter crash in Somalia and was portrayed in the movie “Black Hawk Down,” has led the Republican primary in recent polling.

According to a person with the Durant campaign, “they discussed the Black Hawk Down incident,” and “Trump thought he was a real tough guy.” A spokesperson for Trump declined to comment, pointing to the former president’s statement.

Britt also has met with Trump in recent months, as the former president told others he was souring on Brooks.

Seeking to shore up his standing with Trump, Brooks recently began calling for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to be ousted as the chamber’s top Republican — a pet cause of the former president.

But those efforts by Brooks were not enough to make up for his remarks in a pair of interviews with Alabama news outlets last week, in which he said Trump was being given “misleading” advice in his ongoing push to overturn the 2020 election.