JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new video posted to Facebook Tuesday afternoon features embattled U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown comparing her plight to that of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Brown, D-Jacksonville, is currently under federal indictment on 22 charges, including filing false tax returns, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, multiple counts of mail and wire fraud and concealing material facts on required financial disclosure forms.
Brown, who has served over two decades in Congress, pleaded not guilty to those charges earlier this month.
She is running for re-election in Florida Congressional District 5, which has recently been drastically re-drawn, and continues to insist she is innocent of all charges.
In the 58-second video posted on the Friends of Corrine Brown Facebook page Tuesday, Brown says, “Martin Luther King was under attack, and I've been under attack, and let me just say I'm not the first African-American that's been under attack, and I won't be the last.”
WATCH: Corrine Brown Facebook video
Brown insists in the video that her side of the story regarding the accusations against her has not yet been told.
“I have a story to tell and I am looking forward to the rest of the story,” Brown says. “I am proud of the work that I've been able to do … I really do believe (that I should) let the work I've done speak for me.”
Brown cited several of her achievements, including a veterans hospital in Orlando, a new cemetery in Jacksonville, scholarships given to students through the Congressional Black Caucus and sending students to China.
Attorney Randy Reep said talking during an ongoing legal case is a bad idea.
"A criminal defendant should probably endeavor to be extremely quiet unless their lawyer is sitting next to them," Reep said. "I would be very angry with her right now and I don't know if I could continue to be her lawyer."
But not everyone thinks the video is a bad idea. Some of Brown's constituents said she is an outspoken woman.
"I think she sounds genuine. And I think she is trying to make a point about what she has done and the good she has done. I don't see anything wrong with it," Paula Wu said.
James Hancock disagreed.
"I don't think you have to post a video. If you're innocent, you're innocent. Just let everything play out in the courts and let it go. Whatever happens, happens," Hancock said.
News4Jax political analyst Jennifer Carroll said everyone agrees Brown has helped the state during her two decades of service on Capitol Hill, but comparing her struggle to King is far-fetched.
"His opposition came from the movement that he was trying to create in this country, to change that social order. The congresswoman's situation is something that she, herself, was involved in and not a movement or a cause," Carroll said.
News4Jax reached asked Brown's office in downtown Jacksonville and her Washington, D.C., media contact David Simon for a comment on the release of the video, but has not yet heard back.
Tuesday, a judge granted a Justice Department motion asking that Brown's lawyers be blocked from releasing discovery materials that prosecutors will share with them in her fraud trial. A judge agreed and ordered that Brown's attorneys can use the discovery material only for trial preparation.
The judge's protective order could be modified and will be discussed at a July 26 pretrial hearing.
If convicted on all charges, Brown could be sentenced to up to 357 years in prison and fined $4.8 million.
Brown's chief of staff, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons, is also facing 19 federal counts in the indictment, which was unsealed July 8.