Mo Brooks clashes with Fox News’ Sandra Smith over election

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks insisted during a Fox News interview on Sunday that widespread voter fraud cost former President Donald Trump the 2020 election — forcing the guest host to ” Fox News Sunday,” Sandra Smith, to step in and push back.
The conversation with Brooks was derailed after Smith asked the lawmaker if Trump withdrew his endorsement of Brooks for the US Senate.
Brooks said the 45th president’s decision “revolved around his desire to void the election.”
“And I can understand him wanting to do that, okay?” It was stolen, in my opinion, in 2020. In his opinion, it was stolen. And so I can understand that desire,” Brooks said.
“And just to be on the record, there’s still no proof or evidence on condition that there was any kind of fraud in the –” Smith interrupted.
“Oh, no, that’s wrong,” Brooks quipped. “I don’t know why you in the media keep saying this, but it’s absolutely untrue. It is absolutely false. You keep saying it every time, but it’s absolutely wrong.
“What’s wrong, sir?” Smith asked.
“You had 150 congressmen and senators who absolutely disagree with what you just said,” Brooks said. “So what do you call them?” What do you call them when you say 150 Republican senators and congressmen are looking into voter fraud and saying there was a major problem?
“What do you call the Commission on Federal Election Reform, a bipartisan committee with Jimmy Carter on one side and James Baker – Ronald Reagan’s White House chief of staff on the other – in 2005 that analyzed the systemic weaknesses, systemic flaws in our electoral system and warned us that the election was going to be stolen if we didn’t fix these issues and these issues were left unresolved?” fumed the congressman.
“So I don’t know who’s telling you there’s no evidence, but it tells me you haven’t done your homework. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is,” he continued.

As the two repeatedly spoke to each other, Smith tried to point out that the judges and other Trump administration officials had said there had been no widespread voter fraud in the election.
“No, no, the courts – time out. Don’t go in there. Don’t go in there,” Brooks began.
“Wait a minute, no, no. I get – I get the last word on this, because you just made a false statement, okay? added the Alabama lawmaker.

“The courts are not the final arbiter of who wins federal elections. Congress is. This is required by the United States Constitution. This is required by the United States Code for members of Congress, senators and the president,” he said. “So don’t be surprised that the courts don’t usurp the power that is authorized in the United States Congress.”
Since the 2020 presidential election, dozens of lawsuits brought by Trump or his allies alleging fraud have been dismissed by state and federal judges.
In December of that year, even Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr revealed that the Justice Department had failed to uncover evidence of widespread voter fraud that would have altered the election outcome.
However, Brooks continued to insist that Trump was unfairly beaten, at one point telling Smith to watch a controversial documentary on voter fraud directed by conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza.
“Look at the 2000 Mules documentary that came out. Look at how many mass ballots there have been in the United States that we have no security for,” he said.
Smith fired back noting that the documentary “has been reviewed and verified by multiple outlets, including Reuters, who have debunked it as some kind of evidence that there was widespread voter fraud.”
The two continued to talk to each other for several moments, and Brooks could be heard telling Smith, “You’re absolutely wrong, Sandra. But continue with this story if you wish.
Despite Brooks’ strong defense of the former president on Sunday, he fell out of favor with Trump earlier this year after the congressman urged his supporters to move on from the 2020 loss.
“When I heard his statement, I said, ‘Mo, you just messed up the election, and there’s nothing you can do about it,'” Trump said in March. “Very sad but, since he decided to go in another direction, so have I, and I hereby withdraw my endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate. I don’t think the great people of Alabama will be in disagree with me. Election fraud needs to be caught and stopped, otherwise we won’t have a country.”
Without Trump’s support, Brooks failed to garner enough votes to win the Republican Senate primary nomination on May 24.
He will face Katie Britt in a runoff election on June 21, after Britt won 44.8% of the vote to Brooks’ 29.1%.