Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks tangles with Fox News' Sandra Smith over 2020 election integrity

Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks clashed with Fox News host Sandra Smith on Sunday over former President Donald Trump's claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.

The first half of the interview focused on gun rights after last week's tragic elementary school shooting that left 19 children dead. 

The conversation took a different turn after Smith asked the Alabama congressman about why former President Trump withdrew his endorsement for Brooks' senate campaign. 

Trump pulled his endorsement in March after Brooks, who has been outspoken about his views that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, told voters that they needed to look toward future elections.

Brooks defended the former president on "Fox News Sunday" by saying that Trump's decision "revolved around his wanting to rescind the election."

Brooks said, "I can understand him wanting to do that, okay? He was robbed, in my judgment, in 2020. In his judgment, he was robbed. And so I can understand that desire." 

He explained that the conflict with Trump came because "the law does not permit" an election to be rescinded, adding that the "one shot at reversing the election" came on Jan. 6, when Congress voted to certify the electoral college results.

"We can use what happened in 2020 ... as a motivation to win in 2022 and 2024 to save our country," Brooks said, "but what is now done in 2020 is irreversible under the United States Constitution and the United States Code. And I'm one of those who believes in law and order."

Smith then attempted to fact-check Brooks with a blanket denial of fraud in the 2020 election. "And just to go on the record, there has been still no evidence or proof provided that there was any sort of fraud in the —" she began.

"Oh, no, that's wrong," Brooks interrupted. "I don’t know why you people in the media keep saying that, but that is absolutely false. That is absolutely false. You keep saying it every time, but that's absolutely false."

"What is false, sir?" Smith asked.

"You had 150 congressmen and senators who absolutely disagree with you on what you just said," Brooks responded, referring to the Republicans in Congress who voted not to certify the 2020 election results pending further inquiry in disputed states.

"So I don't know who's telling you there's no evidence, but that tells me you haven't done your homework," said Brooks, citing the warnings of potential election fraud sounded in 2005 by the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and Republican wise man James A. Baker. "I'm sorry, but that's the way it is," Brooks said as Smith began to talk over him. 

"The courts and the judges — " Smith said as they both continued to interrupt each other. 

"No, no, the courts — time out," Brooks said. "Don't go into that. Don't go into that. Wait a minute, no, no. I'm getting — I'm getting the last word on this because you just made a false statement, okay?

"The courts are not the final arbiter of who wins federal elections contests. Congress is. That is required by the United States Constitution. That is required by the United States Code for congressmen and senators and the president. So don't be surprised the courts don't usurp the power that is authorized to the United States Congress."

Smith tried to change the topic to discuss the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol riot. Earlier this month, the panel asked Brooks and two other Republican congressmen to voluntarily testify.

Brooks deflected the topic, instead citing findings and allegations of 2020 election irregularities.

"Look at the judge's opinion in Pennsylvania that talked about over 2 million illegal ballots cast, that was their court order," Brooks said. "Look at the special investigation of a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who found significant voter fraud at nursing homes in the state of Wisconsin. Look at the '2000 Mules' documentary that has come out. Look at how many mass mail out of ballots there were across the United States for which we have no security."

The congressman later promoted the interview on his Twitter, with the caption, "I don't know why people in the media keep saying that there was no fraud in the 2020 election, but that is absolutely false."

State officials, including many in Republican-run states, have said they have found no evidence of widespread fraud in the November 2020 election that could have altered the outcome. However, several states have acknowledged serious irregularities or unlawful changes to election rules occurred in 2020.

For instance, Wisconsin's Supreme Court has ruled that election regulators unlawfully allowed tens of thousands of absentee voters to skip voter ID checks by claiming they were "indefinitely confined" by the pandemic without suffering from a disabillity. And Wisconsin's legislative audit bureau found numerous other rule changes were made that were not approved by the state legislature. In Arizona, an audit called into question more than 50,000 ballots cast in the November 2020 election, while in Georgia state election officials have uncovered such widespread mismanagement in vote counting in Fulton County that they have begun a process to have the state run future elections in the locality that includes the city of Atlanta.