Mo Brooks says he ‘understands’ anger toward socialism in response to Capitol bomb threat

Brooks is a leading candidate in Alabama’s Senate race

(EPA)

Republican Rep Mo Brooks of Alabama said that he understood citizens’ “anger directed at dictatorial Socialism” as a pro-Trump North Carolina man was threatening Capitol Hill with an alleged bomb in his pickup truck.

Mr Brooks, who is running for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen Richard Shelby in 2022, released a statement on Thursday afternoon shortly around the time a man suspected of threatening to bomb the US Capitol surrendered.

Floyd Ray Roseberry, a 49-year-old from Grover in southern North Carolina, was also supposedly upset about the results of the 2020 presidential elections. He had supposedly said “the revolution is on” and wanted President Joe Biden to resign.

The Alabama Republican said in an official statement that his staff was accounted for and he was in Alabama while Congress is on recess.

“Although this terrorist’s motivation is not yet publicly known, and generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society,” Mr Brooks said.

Mr Brooks said then pivoted in his statement by saying the only way to stop socialism was to vote in 2022, when his race for Senate is, and in 2024.

“I strongly encourage patriotic Americans to do exactly that more so than ever before,” he said. “Bluntly stated, America’s future is at risk.”

Mr Brooks is an ardent right-wing congressman who participated in the “Stop the Steal” rally on 6 January 2021 that preceded the insurrection that day. Democratic Rep Eric Swalwell had a man serve a lawsuit to Mr Brooks’s wife for his role in the riot.