'Pathetic': Cornered Republican backs ally's resignation amid lurid scandal

Rhett Marques speaks on stage at a rally with President Donald Trump at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, October 2, 2026. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak

After getting cornered in public, Alabama’s first Republican lawmaker finally spoke out over a fellow Republican’s indictment for attempted sex trafficking.

It has been roughly two weeks since Alabama State Rep. Brett Easterbrook was arrested in an undercover sting and accused of offering $500 to someone he believed was a minor. But since that time, Alabama political leaders have offered little public reaction, and no prominent Republican has called on him to resign.

Easterbrook, a Fruitdale Republican representing House District 65 since 2018, was caught up in an October operation involving undercover police officers, who nabbed 17 arrests. However, it took a pressure campaign arising from U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures to push the state’s first prominent Republican to make a stand.

Figures accused Republicans of staying quiet because state Rep. Brett Easterbrook is one of their own.

“Unless this guy’s defense is that it literally wasn’t him, he should resign immediately,” Figures wrote in a Friday Facebook post. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying your salary if you’re out here trying to … abuse kids. … This ‘I’ll be quiet when he’s one of us’ attitude is truly pathetic. That’s the exact same reason all the Epstein files still haven’t been released.”

Figures then took a shot at Republican state Rep. Rhett Marques: “What do you think, Rhett Marques? Wanna debate this?”

“You can hear crickets right now on this, my current opponent included,” Figures then added to his challenge.

A short time later, AL.com reported Marques responded to Figures.

“He absolutely should resign, and should have already resigned,” Marques said. “There is no place in the Alabama Legislature for conduct so deplorable, and I have no hesitation saying that about a member of my own party.”

Marques then criticized Democrats about transgender healthcare for minors, and he called Figures “a hypocrite and a liar.” He also tried to spin Figures’ Epstein argument back on him, claiming: “When [Figures] worked for Joe Biden’s DOJ, they didn’t release the Epstein files. They released violent criminals from prison.”

Figures served as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

But Figures was quick on the uptake, accusing Marques of calling for Easterbrook’s resignation only after being publicly challenged and shamed.

“Rhett Marques had no intention of calling on his colleague to resign until he saw that I did it,” Figures said.

Months after Congress passed a law demanding President Donald Trump release the entirety of the Jeffrey Epstein files, public sources are still waiting for pertinent names and details of Epstein's possible accomplices to be revealed. The administration's reticence -- coupled with Trump's open friendship with Epstein for the last few decades -- is driving members of even Trump's dedicated MAGA movement to turn on him.

Regardless, Trump may be facing an Epstein explosion in a few months, particularly before the 2028 presidential election as Democrats with renewed access begin to chip away at hidden nuggets within the files.

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