Controversial House Republican talks to Trump ahead of likely Senate bid

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, who led the House effort to object to the election results on January 6, told CNN he plans to make an announcement on Monday about whether he will run for the Senate.

A Senate candidacy would be controversial given his role seeking to overturn the 2020 election results and his speaking in stark terms at the January 6 rally before the Capitol riot — and it will likely divide the GOP over what would traditionally be a safe seat.

Brooks told CNN he has spoken with former President Donald Trump about running for the Alabama Senate seat.

“Yes I am considering a run for the Senate,” he told CNN on Wednesday.

When asked if Trump is supportive of the Senate run, Brooks said: “I think that’s for him to announce at the appropriate time.”

He told CNN he will make the announcement Monday, March 22, about whether to run for reelection to the House or launch a campaign for the Senate.

Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to Trump when he was president, is expected to be at his announcement Monday, according to a person familiar.

A Senate seat will be vacated by GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, who announced in February he would not run for reelection in 2022, after serving 42 years in Congress.

Brooks, a staunch conservative and one of Trump’s closest congressional allies, was the first member of Congress to say publicly that he would object to the certification of the electoral votes for President Joe Biden. The day before the January 6 rally, he tweeted that Trump had “asked me personally to speak & tell the American people about the election system weaknesses that the Socialist Democrats exploited to steal this election.”