Mo Brooks says Trump asked him to 'immediately' remove Biden from office and illegally hold a new presidential election

• Rep. Mo Brooks said Trump asked him to remove Biden from office and declare a new election.
• Trump this week withdrew his support for Brooks' Senate run.

Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama said on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump pressed him to illegally remove President Joe Biden from office and hold a new presidential election, moves that are both unconstitutional.

"President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency," Brooks said in a statement responding to Trump's withdrawal of his endorsement of Brooks' US Senate campaign.

In a statement on Wednesday, Trump said Brooks had gone "woke" by asking him to move beyond his repeatedly debunked claims about the 2020 election.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If Brooks' claims are true, they would fit within a pattern of Trump pressing elected officials to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

Former Vice President Mike Pence recently said Trump was "wrong" to suggest that Pence could have unilaterally rejected a state's electoral votes when lawmakers met to certify them on January 6, 2021. Trump's calls have even inspired fringe efforts to "decertify" results in an apparent bid to somehow claw back electoral votes.

There is no precedent for such action. Each state's electors met on December 14, 2020. Their results were sent to Congress, and lawmakers met on January 6, 2021, to formally count the votes. Biden was declared the winner, and, per the Constitution, he was inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Removing Biden from power would be the definition of a coup d'état. There is no such thing as a "special election for the presidency."

Brooks said Trump withdrew his endorsement in part because of these disagreements. The congressman was once the frontrunner in the GOP contest to replace Sen. Richard Shelby but has fallen behind in polls and struggled to raise money. By all accounts, Trump does not like endorsing losing candidates.

"I've told President Trump the truth knowing full well that it might cause President Trump to rescind his endorsement," Brooks said. "But I took a sworn oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution. I honor my oath. That is the way I am. I break my sworn oath for no man."