Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell has served Rep. Mo Brooks with a lawsuit accusing the Alabama Republican and other supporters of former President Donald Trump of being responsible for provoking the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, The Hill reported on Sunday.
“Swalwell FINALLY did his job, served complaint (on my WIFE)," Brooks wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "HORRIBLE Swalwell’s team committed a CRIME by unlawfully sneaking INTO MY HOUSE & accosting my wife!”
Swalwell’s lawyers said they were having difficulties locating Brooks and denied entering his home illegally.
"No one entered or even attempted to enter the Brooks' house. That allegation is completely untrue. A process server lawfully served the papers on Mo Brooks' wife, as the federal rules allow," said attorney Philip Andonian.
"This was after her initial efforts to avoid service. Mo Brooks has no one but himself to blame for the fact that it came to this. We asked him to waive service, we offered to meet him at a place of his choosing. Instead of working things out like a civilized person, he engaged in a juvenile game of Twitter trolling over the past few days and continued to evade service. He demanded that we serve him. We did just that. The important thing is the complaint has been served and Mo Brooks can now be held accountable for his role in inciting the deadly insurrection at the Capitol."
Matthew Kaiser, another of Swalwell's attorneys, said they hired a private investigator to find Brooks. The PI left the papers with Brooks' wife at their home in Alabama, as is legally permitted.
Serving the papers is a crucial step in the legal process because it begins a clock in court for Brooks to respond to Swalwell's accusations.
Swalwell filed the lawsuit in March. In it he accuses Trump, his onetime personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his son Donald Trump Jr. and Brooks of instigating the riot and breaking several Washington, D.C., laws.
Trump, Trump Jr., and Giuliani have already acknowledged receiving the lawsuit, CNN reports, and claim that their words on Jan. 6 did not provoke the siege on the Capitol and, in any case, are protected. They have asked a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.