Mo Brooks (left) with former president Donald Trump
(Picture: White House photo)A US politician has been left with egg on his face after he accidentally posted his Gmail password and PIN on social media.
Alabama representative Mo Brooks, 67, made the embarrassing security blunder during a Twitter rant about a lawsuit served against him.
California Democrat Eric Swalwell, 40, is seeking to hold Brooks accountable for the January 6 Capitol riots, and claims he had to hire a private investigator just to pin the Republican down.
Swalwell’s lawyer told CNN that the investigator had left the subpoena papers with Brooks’s wife at their home, but the 67-year-old has accused the Democrat of illegally trespassing on his property.
He tweeted furiously: "Well, Swalwell FINALLY did his job, served [a] complaint (on my WIFE). HORRIBLE Swalwell’s team committed a CRIME by unlawfully sneaking INTO MY HOUSE & accosting my wife!"
Alongside his angry words, Brooks posted a screen grab of the penalties faced by anyone committing criminal trespass.
However, he failed to realise that at the bottom of the image was a note featuring the PIN to one of his accounts as well as his email password.
The gaffe was quickly seized upon by social media users, with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen noting that Brooks sits on a technology committee. So not a great look:
Mo Brooks, who sits on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, just posted a photo with his gmail password taped to the bottom of his screen. I seem to remember email security being a pretty defining topic for the GOP. https://t.co/AFHVY3todt
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 7, 2021
Here’s how other users responded:
Too busy misinterpreting Alabama law to notice his gmail password in the screenshot... https://t.co/2Erk3KTdtY
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) June 7, 2021
Mo Brooks accidentally tweeting out his gmail password and PIN number in a tweet implying someone would have to be sneaky to take advantage of him is, in a word, hilarious.
— Robyn (@hmntre) June 6, 2021
While ranting like a lunatic and claiming to be a victim because his wife was handed a piece of paper, Mo Brooks accidentally tweeted his Gmail password and pin numbers.
— Josh Moon 🇺🇸 (@Josh_Moon) June 6, 2021
He's Mr. Underhill from Fletch. pic.twitter.com/w6YyyqF9o9
This guy deadass tweeted out his Gmail password and if WikiLeaks doesn't release every kilobyte of what it contains, I swear to God... https://t.co/oJ2Ul50emu
— Zach Heltzel (@zachheltzel) June 7, 2021
What. An. Idiot. Thanks for sharing your password with the world. Glad to know you are on the committee responsible for our nation’s cyber security. I feel much safer knowing you are on the case.👀🧐😲🤦♀️🤣 https://t.co/H2vD0oxndM
— Kaylan Donahou (@kaylan_donahou) June 7, 2021
Republicans: these cyber attacks are getting out of control!! We must stop them!
— Zak “Vaccinated Nugget ” Houara (@Daftzak) June 7, 2021
Also republicans: a republican sitting member of congress tweets a photo of his Gmail password https://t.co/RYoUxw5F6G
When Mo Brooks realized he Tweeted out his Gmail password on Twitter: 🤡 pic.twitter.com/VxFUmP3F1J
— In My Mind (@MeAloneInMyMind) June 7, 2021
Brooks isn’t the only high profile Republican to face tech issues.
In 2019, Rudy Giuliani made headlines after it emerged that he had needed help unlocking his phone having forgotten his password.
In October the following year, Donald Trump’s Twitter account was hacked after someone guessed his pretty predictable password: “maga2020!”
Brooks’ later deleted his mortifying tweet and reshared the image after cropping out his personal details.
Meanwhile, one of Swalwell’s lawyers challenged the politicians accusations.
Philip Andonian said in a statement to CNN: "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.
"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."
In the lawsuit, Swalwell alleges that Brooks, along with Trump, his son, Donald Trump Jr., and Giuliani broke Washington DC laws, including an anti-terrorism act, by inciting the riot, and that they aided and abetted violent protesters and inflicted emotional distress on members of Congress.
