Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who posed for a photo with the faculty at the Army War College in Confederate uniform three years before he retired from the U.S. Army. The photo, obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, shows Mastriano in uniform in a 2013-14 photoshoot for the Ministry of Military Strategy, Planning and Operations, where he was there, Reuters said on Friday. Working until retirement in 2017.
Reuters said faculty members at the time were said to have had the option of dressing up as historical figures, and while a few did so, only Mastriano wore a Confederate uniform.
The Army War College said in a statement that a team reviewed all art, text and images displayed at Carlisle Barracks in 2020 to align with Army values and the Academy’s educational philosophy, but it missed staff photos, which “Removed” because it does not meet the AWC value. “
Pennsylvania Senator Mastriano has spread Donald Trump’s lies about widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election and is a major supporter of Pennsylvania Trump’s overturning the election result. He was also in a crowd outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he was attacked by Trump supporters after attending a nearby “Stop the Stealing” rally.
Mastriano did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but retweeted comments from Jenna Ellis, his campaign’s top legal counsel, who said “the media has melted the fact that Mastriano apparently once posed as a Civil War historical figure. Photo. And? He has a Ph.D. in history.
“The Left wants to erase history. Doug Mastriano wants us to learn from it,” Ellis tweeted.
Army War College/Reuters Handout
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro accused Mastriano of wearing a “traitor uniform fighting for slavery,” calling it “extremely aggressive” and saying his opponent was “unfit to be governor” .
Mastriano served in the military for three decades, retiring as a colonel after serving in Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Confederate flags, symbols and statues have increasingly divided the country in recent years, with critics calling them symbols of the struggle to preserve slavery and supporters calling them expressions of Southern pride and heritage.
