Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks says Republicans are retiring en masse due to fear of assassination
Mo Brooks, the Republican representative from Alabama, has claimed in a radio interview that Republicans are fearing assassination attempts and thus retiring in huge numbers, reported Roll Call.
Brooks recounted last year's shooting where a Trump-hating Democrat gunman severely injured Majority Whip Steve Scalise while talking about the Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball game on “The Dale Jackson Show.”
“We have multiple rings of security, plainclothes, uniform, Capitol Police, other police,” he said. “There was a medical vehicle nearby just in case there was a copycat.”
While Brooks attributed multiple factors that resulted in a slew of Republicans exiting the House, he said that the fear of violence was the biggest reason of them all.
“One of the things that’s concerning me is the assassination risk may become a factor,” he said of the heightened security risk.
He was talking about the exit of longtime senators who decided to retire from the Republican baseball team. Among those throwing in the towel are Reps. Ryan Costello, Pat Meehan, Dennis Ross, Tom Rooney and Senator Jeff Flake.
Although none of the retirees would blatantly admit it, Brooks says that the exits definitely seemed disproportionate.
“You have to wonder with that kind of disproportionate retirement number whether what happened in June played a factor,” he said, while maintaining that the threat of assassination on congressmen and women is beyond just the baseball field.
Brooks remarked that three different people have been arrested for threatening Reps. Scott Taylor and Tom Garrett of Virginia and Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, while last month a man was held guilty of threatening Rep. Martha McSally from Arizona.
He did not mention House Speaker Paul Ryan by name but he is one in a long line of high-profile resignees who left recently.
“Notice a trend here?” he said. “I have a congressman who is a friend here who has a three-year-old daughter whose daughter was threatened with murder.”
He went on to say that the socialist wing of society led by Bernie Sanders was preparing for a rebellion that could result in a level of violence comparable to the Maoist upheaval. He also raised concerns about the growing number of leftists who think political issues can be resolved through gun violence.
“There are a growing number of leftists who believe the way to resolve this is not at the ballot box but through threats and sometimes through violence and assassinations,” he said.
Brooks, however, said that it was a "possible" factor when pressed about his suggestion.
“I don't think any of these people who are retiring would say that, but just looking at the numbers,” he said. “That’s out of whack.”
James Hodgkinson, the gunman who shot Scalise, was a staunch Democrat and had carefully planned his attack on the Republicans for weeks, stoking out the location of the practice in Alexandria, Virginia.
Protection officers who were accompanying the representatives responded just in time and killed the gunman.