US Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) recently claimed that an effort by congressional Democrats to serve him with a lawsuit saw a hired private investigator “unlawfully sneaking” into his Alabama home over the weekend.
Brooks initially took to Twitter on Friday to share a mock wanted advertisement with his photo in a bid to ridicule US Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-CA) effort to serve Brooks with a lawsuit stemming from his appearance at the January 6 rally that preceded the Capitol riot.
However, come Sunday, Brooks got served, and he later took to Twitter once again to announce the development while also claiming that the processor snuck into his home in Alabama, when he handed the legal documents to Brooks’ wife, Martha.
“Well, Swalwell FINALLY did his job, served complaint (on my WIFE),” the congressman wrote. “HORRIBLE Swalwell’s team committed a CRIME by unlawfully sneaking INTO MY HOUSE & accosting my wife!”
Brooks added that the alleged offense was a criminal trespass, which in the state of Alabama amounts to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine.
Clay Mills, a spokesperson for Brooks, subsequently informed the Washington Post that the lawmaker had also filed a complaint with local police officials over the alleged infraction, noting that the private investigator “entered” the home without Martha’s “knowledge and without her consent.”
The spokesperson further stated that the individual “refused to leave when Mrs. Brooks demanded it,” and that there is “video proof” of the incident. In a statement to local outlet AL.com, Brooks relayed that his wife intends to have the server arrested after the individual is “properly identified.”
Brooks’ wife has told the media that she had repeatedly “screamed” at the server to leave the grounds after he entered the garage to serve the legal paperwork.
Philip Andonian, an attorney for Swalwell, has rejected the allegations made by Brooks, telling CNN on Sunday that the claim is “completely untrue” as “no one entered or even attempted to enter the Brooks house.”
“A process server lawfully served the papers on Mo Brooks’ wife, as the federal rules allow. … This was after her initial efforts to avoid service. Mo Brooks has no one but himself to blame for the fact that it came to this. We asked him to waive service, we offered to meet him at a place of his choosing,” the lawyer explained.
“Instead of working things out like a civilized person, he engaged in a juvenile game of Twitter trolling over the past few days and continued to evade service. He demanded that we serve him. We did just that.”
The lawsuit was originally filed on March 5 against Brooks, as well as former US President Donald Trump, his personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani and his eldest son, Donald Jr. It alleges that the group “defiled” the “peaceful transfer of power.” While the fellow defendants waived service and filed motions in order to dismiss the complaint, Brooks refused to follow along.