The government won’t defend at taxpayer expense a GOP congressman being sued for allegedly helping to incite the Capitol riot. He’s on his own. Read story here.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) wanted to invoke the Westfall Act (read about it here), which shifts legal responsibility for actions by federal employees in the course of their duties from the individual employee to the government. The Department of Justice, now run by Biden appointees, says nothing doing.
Reuters quoted former government insiders as saying DoJ’s rejection of Brooks’ request for government backing “sends a message” that inciting attacks on Congress and subverting elections are not acts “within the scope” of any federal employment. Those are individual acts, for which the perpetrators are individually responsible. Read story here.
The background of the lawsuit is described by Wikipedia here. Watch part of Brooks’ speech to the crowd that minutes later stormed the Capitol in the video below.
This would be an inspiring rallying of the people to fight off a foreign invader. But that’s not what this was. In this speech, Brooks called for overthrowing our democracy. He demanded that our votes not count for anything. He helped turn an angry crowd into a violent mob.
Meanwhile, while our country is being invaded by a foreign enemy, the Covid-19 virus, by opposing mask and vaccine mandates he’s letting it in.