* Ever since photos showed state Sen. Doug Mastriano at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that devolved into the deadly Capitol riot, the Pennsylvania Republican has said he did not cross police lines and left when the scene started to turn violent.
* But video recently uncovered by online sleuths appears to show that Mastriano — widely seen as a leading Republican contender for governor in 2022 — stuck around longer and advanced closer to the Capitol building than he has previously acknowledged.
* The footage appears to show Mastriano and his wife among a crowd passing through breached barricades set up by Capitol police to keep rioters at bay. A video of the same scene shot from a different perspective shows a man dragging those barriers aside and then tossing them out of the way.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. GOP lawmaker Doug Mastriano says he left the Capitol area before the riot. New videos say otherwise.
By Jeremey Roebuck and Andrew Seidman
May 25, 2021
Ever since photos showed state Sen. Doug Mastriano at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that devolved into the deadly Capitol riot, the Pennsylvania Republican has said he did not cross police lines and left when the scene started to turn violent.
But video recently uncovered by online sleuths appears to show that Mastriano — widely seen as a leading Republican contender for governor in 2022 — stuck around longer and advanced closer to the Capitol building than he has previously acknowledged.
The footage appears to show Mastriano and his wife among a crowd passing through breached barricades set up by Capitol police to keep rioters at bay. A video of the same scene shot from a different perspective shows a man dragging those barriers aside and then tossing them out of the way.
Other images appear to depict the couple later on the Capitol’s northwest lawn, and then just feet from the building’s main steps, where police were retreating in the face of the mob.
Though the photos and video had been shared widely on social media at the time, Mastriano was first identified in them over the weekend by the community of amateur sleuths that has sprung up to identify riot participants from existing footage. The Huffington Post reported on those findings Tuesday.
Mastriano, of Fulton County, was quick to dismiss them as “disingenuous” and “angry partisans” so “blinded by their hatred for all things President Donald Trump” that they distorted the facts. He said in a statement that he followed directions given by Capitol Police and — despite what the footage appears to show — respected police lines as he came upon them.
“Even disingenuous internet sleuths know that police lines did shift throughout the course of the day,” he said, adding: “They are foot soldiers of the ruling elite and should be dismissed as such.”
And yet, several identifications first made by that same sleuthing community have resulted in FBI investigations and arrests of some of the more than 400 defendants facing charges for participating in the insurrection.
It was amateur detectives who first placed Philadelphia Proud Boys President Zach Rehl inside the office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) during the insurrection by identifying him in a photo published in the New Yorker magazine. Rehl is currently facing charges of conspiracy, obstruction of Congress, and destruction of government property.
Unlike most of those who have been charged criminally so far, no footage has surfaced that shows Mastriano inside the Capitol building or directly sparring with police.
A retired military colonel first elected to the state Senate in 2019, Mastriano was a little-known figure in Pennsylvania politics before last year, when his frequent criticism of Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions and his full-hearted embrace of Trump’s lies about a stolen election advanced his profile significantly.
In a Jan. 12 radio interview, Mastriano recounted walking to Capitol Hill with his wife after Trump’s speech had ended. He said he had been scheduled to speak that afternoon at Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Mastriano said that when he arrived at the “mall part” of Capitol Hill, he asked Capitol Police officers for directions.
“Not one of them says, ‘Hey, you know what, we think something bad’s gonna happen today. Maybe you should go,’” Mastriano said. The officers directed Mastriano to the other side of the building, he said.
“As we’re making our way around the back side of the building .. we start noticing agitators, kind of getting in the face of the police and jiggling the bicycle rack barricade they use,” Mastriano recalled. “We’re kind of like, ‘This is not our crowd.’”
When Mastriano got to the east side of the Capitol, he said, he was standing about 200 feet back from the Capitol steps when he saw more “agitators” start pushing police up the steps. “I don’t think there was any breach on that side,” he said. “We didn’t stay to find out.”
Mastrino also hosted Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in November at a raucous state Senate hearing in Gettysburg where he advanced the false claims of widespread fraud in Pennsylvania’s election. His role in organizing the session scored him an invitation to meet with Trump at the White House that same evening, which was interrupted when he was informed he’d tested positive for the coronavirus.
WHYY reported in January that Mastriano’s campaign had chartered busses to ferry Trump supporters to Washington on Jan. 6.
Read the full piece here.
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