Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has been served with a lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), days after attorneys for Swalwell said they were having trouble tracking down the Alabama Republican, Brooks and a Swalwell representative confirmed.
The lawsuit accuses Brooks and other allies of former President Trump of provoking the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Brooks tweeted on Sunday that he had been served with the suit and claimed members of “Swalwell’s team” broke into his home and served the lawsuit to his wife.
“@EricSwalwell Well, Swalwell FINALLY did his job, served complaint (on my WIFE). HORRIBLE Swalwell’s team committed a CRIME by unlawfully sneaking INTO MY HOUSE & accosting my wife! Alabama Code 13A-7-2: 1st degree criminal trespass. Year in jail. $6000 fine. More to come!” Brooks tweeted.
Speaking to CNN, Philip Andonian, an attorney for Swalwell, shot back at Brooks’s claims of unlawful entry.
“No one entered or even attempted to enter the Brooks’ house. That allegation is completely untrue. A process server lawfully served the papers on Mo Brooks’ wife, as the federal rules allow,” Andonian said.
“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,” Andonian continued. “We asked him to waive service, we offered to meet him at a place of his choosing. 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 important thing is the complaint has been served and Mo Brooks can now be held accountable for his role in inciting the deadly insurrection at the Capitol.”
Swalwell’s lawsuit, filed in March, accuses the former president, his onetime personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, his son Donald Trump Jr. and Brooks of instigating the Jan. 6 riot and breaking multiple Washington, D.C., laws in the process. The suit specifically cites the “Stop the Steal” rally that took place immediately before rioters broke into the Capitol.
Trump has claimed that he holds “absolute immunity” from Swalwell’s lawsuit and called for it to be dismissed in his own court filing.