The congressional inquisition into the January 6 Capitol Hill riot has led to the intense examination of communications of those who participated in the “Stop the Steal” movement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) earlier this year established the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack to oversee the investigation into the events which preceded and occurred that day.
The committee has succeeded in its efforts to gain access to the communications of the movement’s organizer, Ali Alexander. U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), who led efforts in Congress to scrutinize the 2020 presidential election results, has also emerged as a prime target of the committee.
According to Politico, lawyers representing Alexander told the committee that the organizer and Brooks held a text exchange prior to January 6. The outlet reports that Alexander indicated that he had turned over text messages to investigators, one of which he reportedly sent to the congressman.
In a release, Brooks’ office slammed the leaking of Alexander’s testimony and called for more transparency in the process. His office referred to Pelosi and the committee’s investigative efforts as a “Witch Hunt.”
The office states, “If the Witch Hunt Committee is going to leak witness testimony and evidence, then why shouldn’t ALL witness testimony and evidence be public so the American people can judge for themselves the veracity of testimony and evidence?”
The alleged text message outlines Alexander’s intention to invite Brooks to an event which his congressional office says he did not attend. It also suggests that Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, would make contact with Brooks via phone call. Brooks’ office contends that, to the best of the congressman’s knowledge, the phone conversation with Flynn never occurred.
The text message reads, “Congressman, this is Ali Alexander. I am the founder of Stop the Steal, the protests happening in all 50 states. We met years ago back in 2010, during the tea party when you were first elected. I texted the wrong number. I had intended to invite you to our giant Saturday prayer rally in DC, this past weekend. Also Gen. Flynn should be giving you a ring. We stand ready to help. Jan. 6th is a big moment for our republic.”
The congressman’s office contends that by way of the text asserting that Brooks and Alexander “met years ago” suggests that he and the organizer did not partake in dialogue leading up to January 6. According to his office, Brooks’ phone did not recognize the number associated with the text message.
Brooks’ office states, “While the person sending the text claims to be ‘Ali Alexander’, Congressman Brooks has no personal knowledge about the sender or the cell number that would confirm, to Congressman Brooks’ knowledge, that the purported sender is in fact the person who claims to have sent the text.”
His office adds, “Assuming Ali Alexander actually sent the text, Alexander states that ‘We met years ago back in 2010′, which is a tacit admission by the sender that Alexander and Congressman Brooks have had no communications or interactions for more than a decade on or before December 16, 2020.”
The North Alabama congressman’s office goes on to state that “after a search involving cell phone records and emails,” Brooks found that he had no communications which suggest that he had conversations with Alexander.
His office also notes that no content within “the text references the Save America Rally at the Ellipse on January 6, 2020 nor the attack on the U.S. Capitol a mile and a half away sometime after the Ellipse Rally began.”
Brooks’ office concludes, “The insinuation that this single text to Congressman Brooks from an unknown number by someone claiming to be “Ali Alexander” somehow suggests Congressman Brooks in any way helped plan the Capitol attack is absurd, outrageous and defamatory.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
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