By Samuel Mattison
Alabama Political Reporter
A new political ad attacked Alabama US Representative Mo Brooks as someone who did not support President Donald Trump during his run for the White House.
The ad, produced by the Super PAC Senate Leadership Fund, said Brooks refused to endorse Donald Trump during last year’s presidential election.
It shows clips of Brooks on various shows talking negatively about then-Republican Primary Candidate Trump.
“I don’t think you can trust Donald Trump with anything he says,” Brooks said on MSNBC last year.
During the primary, Brooks endorsed Ted Cruz for president. All the clips from the ad come from this time. After Donald Trump won the Republican primary in July, Brooks endorsed Trump.
The ad also compared Brooks’ positions to prominent Democratic lawmakers Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren saying that Brooks had sided with them.
“Mo Brooks attacked Donald Trump, siding with them, not Alabama conservatives,” the ad said.
The ad costs the Super PAC nearly $800,000 to produce and air according to filings from the Federal Election Commission. Other filings from June showed they spent over $400,000 on a pro-Luther Strange ad.
Brooks responded Wednesday to the political ad by saying this is just a desperate attempt by Strange to win back support.
“Voters know Strange acted unethically when he sought Governor Bentley’s appointment to the Senate while holding the threat of criminal prosecution over Bentley’s head,” Brooks said in a statement. “That’s why they are running this ad, that’s why Big ‘Lyin’’ Luther’s DC handlers are hiding him, that’s why he is avoiding debates and only doing carefully controlled media appearances.”
Brooks also pointed to a check for $2,500 his PAC Make Opportunity based out of Huntsville gave to the Alabama GOP’s National account with a memo to give the money to Trump’s Florida Campaign.
He gave this check in October 2016 during the last days of the presidential race. Brooks’ campaign emphasized that the check was given “at a time when many others were abandoning him(Trump) after the release of the Access Hollywood video.”
Filings from the FEC confirm that Brooks’ PAC did give $2,500 to the Alabama GOP in October 2016.
As a US Senate candidate, Brooks has been a supporter of Trump’s agenda.
He said he would help build the border wall on the US-Mexico border if he got to the Senate. He has also defended Trump’s various policy decisions, including to back out of the Paris Climate Agreement and Trump’s pursuit of voter fraud claims during the 2016 election.
The Super PAC who made the ad is also affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).
APR reported earlier this year that McConnell had called then newly-sworn in Governor Kay Ivey in April asking her to not hold a special election for the US Senate seat left vacant by Jeff Sessions ascension to US Attorney General.
The Senate race primary date is one month away and the general election is in December. Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore currently leads in polling with Luther Strange in second. Brooks is in third place.
