Pro-Trump congressman gets arrest warrant for man who served Capitol riot lawsuit on his wife

Alabama Republican Congressman Mo Brooks is trying to arrest a man who served his wife a lawsuit from Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell. The lawsuit aims to hold Mr Brooks accountable for his role in the deadly Capitol riot on 6 January.

According to AL.com, Mr Brooks alleges that a process server entered into the couple's home without permission. He also released a surveillance video that showed a man following Ms Brooks into the family's garage in order to serve her the lawsuit.

Mr Brooks did not take the situation well.

"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!" Mr Brooks wrote in a tweet.

Mr Brooks said he plans to seek misdemeanour criminal trespassing charges against the process server.

The other defendants Mr Swalwell is suing – Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, and the former president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani – all acknowledged the lawsuit through their attorneys and waived the serving process.

Mr Brooks did not, choosing instead to go into hiding to try to dodge the lawsuit. He managed to evade Mr Swalwell for several months, but was eventually located.

Phillip Andonian, an attorney for Mr Swalwell, told CNN that the process server did not break any laws while presenting Ms Brooks with the lawsuit.

“No one entered or even attempted to enter the Brooks’s house. That allegation is completely untrue. A process server lawfully served the papers on Mo Brooks's wife, as the federal rules allow,” Mr 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. We asked him to waive service, we offered to meet him at a place of his choosing.”

The lawyer said Mr Brooks could have worked “things out like a civilised person” but that he chose instead to engage “in a juvenile game of Twitter trolling over the past few days” while he evaded the lawsuit.

“He demanded that we serve him. We did just that. The important thing is the complain has been served and Mo Brooks can now be held accountable for his role in inciting the deadly insurrection at the Capitol,” Mr Andonian said.

Mr Brooks released a statement claiming he had been served three times within a week.

“Congressman Eric Swalwell lied in his politically motivated, meritless lawsuit against President Donald Trump and me when he falsely claimed I incited the January 6 Capitol violence. Swalwell’s attorneys lied again when they strutted in front of the news media like peacocks in heat and falsely accused me of avoiding Swalwell’s lawsuit service when the fact is they could have served me roughly a hundred times before, during or after both Swalwell and I voted together on the House floor, or served me by US Mail to my home address,” he wrote.

“In fact, when they finally got serious about serving me with the lawsuit, they served me not once, not twice, but three times, all within one week! So much for avoiding service or being difficult to find!”

Mr Brooks has tried to distance himself from the Capitol rioters since the event, releasing a lengthy statement condemning the violence and calling the participants “fools” who have done more harm than good to the Republican Party.

However, Ali Alexander, the organiser of the “Stop the Steal” rallies that culminated with the rally on 6 January, claims Mr Brooks was a central planner of the event.

Days before the attack at the Capitol, Mr Alexander posted a video naming both Mr Brooks and US Reps Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs as co-organisers of the rally that happened ahead of the riot.

During the rally, Mr Brooks told the crowd that “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass”.