When Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) took the stage on Jan. 6 to rile up a crowd of Donald Trump supporters ahead of their violent siege of the U.S. Capitol, he was concealing a telling wardrobe choice.<\/p>\n
Underneath his canary-yellow windbreaker, he was wearing body armor, the Republican\u00a0told Slate on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was warned on [Jan. 4] that there might be risks associated with the next few days,\u201d he told Slate\u2019s Jim Newell. \u201cAnd as a consequence of those warnings, I did not go to my condo. Instead, I slept on the floor of my office. And when I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I was wearing that nice little windbreaker,\u201d he reportedly added with a grin. \u201cTo cover up the body armor.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a follow-up statement Thursday, the congressman told CNN\u00a0that he \u201chad no information of any threats, by anybody, but from socialists, generally, Antifa and [Black Lives Matter] in particular\u201d that day. He also compared it to bringing an umbrella in case it rains.<\/p>\n
The revelation that Brooks, a staunch Trump ally, believed the rally and its aftermath could turn violent enough to justify wearing body armor very clearly undercuts the Republican claim that the violent assault on democracy was nought but harmless tourism.<\/p>\n
In a fiery 10-minute speech that day that he delivered behind bulletproof glass, Brooks told the crowd\u00a0about their ancestors who sacrificed their \u201cblood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives\u201d before asking attendees if they were \u201cwilling to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is the day that American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass,\u201d he added while he attacked \u201cweak-knees Republicans\u201d and encouraged people to \u201cstop at the Capitol\u201d on their way back home.<\/p>\n
The crowd obliged.<\/p>\n
As armed, violent insurrectionists stormed the Capitol and attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, Brooks\u2019 colleagues in the House undoubtedly wished he\u2019d tipped them off about wearing body armor, too.<\/p>\n
In the immediate aftermath, Brooks attempted to recast his speech as nothing more than \u201ca pep talk\u201d for the elections to come in 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n
He also urged his Twitter followers to wait for an investigation before passing judgment. Six months later, Brooks voted against a bipartisan effort to conduct just such an investigation.<\/p>\n
In the interim, Brooks so assiduously avoided being served a lawsuit for his role in the Capitol riot that process servers ended up serving the suit to his wife instead. The Republican responded by accidentally\u00a0revealing his email password\u00a0and other sensitive login information.<\/p>\n