Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama has a lot of questions to answer. Brooks isn’t good at answering questions, but he is good at making wild and baseless statements, and weaving together conspiracy theories that QAnon types find titillating. During the Jan. 6. ‘Stop The Steal’ rally in Washington, D.C.—the one that led to an attempted coup d’etat at our nation’s Capitol building—Mo Brooks stood in front of the crowd and said, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass! Now, our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives, to give us, their descendants, an America that’s the greatest nation in world history. So I have a question for you: Are you willing to do the same? My answer is yes. Louder. Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America? [cheers and applause] Louder! Will you fight for America?”

We know he did this because it was recorded and broadcast nationally. Since that time, Brooks, like the rest of the Republican Party, has gone all in, duplicitously telling the American public that the Jan. 6 insurrection wasn’t a big deal while also saying that the November 2020 election results are fraudulent. And while the Republican Senate minority was successful in thwarting the will of the American people and our democracy by filibustering away a commission that would have investigated what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, Democratic officials are not done trying to hold people accountable for their actions. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California is one of those officials trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened—and he has the slimy and wriggling Mo Brooks in his sights.

CNN reports that a new filing by Rep. Swalwell’s attorneys in a lawsuit he has brought against Mo Brooks, as well as the twice-impeached Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., and leaky oil can Rudy Guiliani, gives up some interesting details about how cowardly Brooks is in the wild. Rep. Swalwell’s attorneys have said that they have had such a difficult time trying to serve Brooks with the official lawsuit and papers that they were forced to hire a private investigator for the job. On Wednesday, the judge overseeing the case gave Swalwell’s team 60 days to properly serve Brooks his notice, but “due to separation of powers concerns,” would not allow U.S. Marshals to be used to serve them.

During April and May, Swalwell’s team says they got the run-around from Brooks’ underlings. They also say that Brooks has stonewalled their attempts to contact him via phone and email:

Swalwell’s attorneys have been very diplomatic in the handling of this case, telling CNN, “The problem here is that Mo Brooks’ door is under lock and key … There was just no access to the primary place that he was for much of the day. It just takes persistence and luck sometimes. We’re not claiming Brooks is hiding in a bunker somewhere. But it takes a lot of effort.” Brooks is the only one of the four named in the lawsuit who has yet to respond.

Mo Brooks has been unrepentant about the Jan. 6 catastrophe, first attempting to blame the violence at the Capitol building on antifa, and subsequently decrying all attempts at investigating the events surrounding Jan. 6 as political stunts. It’s pure GOP authoritarianism with people like Brooks. If you want to know what they are guilty of, just listen to what they are accusing others of.

Here’s Mo Brooks on Jan. 6: 

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And here is Rep. Swalwell’s attorney Philip Andonian speaking with CNN about why they are suing Mo Brooks.

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