Mastriano’s supporters charged for role in the Jan. 6 insurrection — including one who rode on the buses Mastriano’s campaign funds facilitated.
PENNSYLVANIA — It’s no secret that Republican candidate for Governor, Doug Mastriano, attended the Jan. 6 insurrection, crossing police barricades and paying thousands of dollars to bus Pennsylvanians to the Capitol that day. He was even subpoenaed by Congress for his efforts to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. New reporting is now unearthing the extent to which his associates participated in the attack on our democracy and law enforcement, and thus far, at least five of Mastriano’s supporters have already been charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection:
At least five supporters of state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, are facing federal charges for their participation in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. At least one of the five traveled to Washington on a bus chartered by Mastriano.
In addition to Mastriano and his supporters being photographed at the deadly insurrection that attempted to overthrow our democracy — and injured 140 law enforcement officers — Mastriano’s campaign materials were also prominently displayed by several insurrectionists. A Mastriano campaign sign was held by one and a campaign shirt was worn by another.
In case you missed the newest unearthing of Mastriano and his supporters’ participation in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, check out the American Independent’s coverage below:
By Nick Vachon, 06/13/2022
At least five supporters of state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, are facing federal charges for their participation in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. At least one of the five traveled to Washington on a bus chartered by Mastriano.
Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel whose political career began with his election to the Pennsylvania Senate in 2019, is a supporter of Trump’s election lies and a Christian nationalist who supports a total ban on abortion. He led the effort in Pennsylvania to award Trump the state’s 20 electoral votes in spite of the actual election results, even attending a White House meeting with Trump to strategize about how to retroactively deny Biden victory in the Keystone State.
Mastriano attended and was tentatively scheduled to speak at the “Stop the Steal” rally held just prior to the insurrection at the Capitol, according to permitting documents for the event. In a statement issued by his office on Jan. 6, Mastriano condemned the violence and said, “When it was apparent that this was no longer a peaceful protest, my wife and I left the area and made our way out of the area. At no point did we enter the Capitol building, walk on the Capitol steps or go beyond police lines.”
However, footage posted online is reported to show Mastriano crossing abandoned police barricades alongside his wife.
Sandra Weyer of Mechanicsburg, who traveled to Washington on a bus chartered by Mastriano and who donated $500 to his campaign for the Pennsylvania Senate, was one of the more than 2,000 pro-Trump protestors who invaded the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 presidential election. She was arrested on a felony charge of obstructing Congress and on four misdemeanor charges including disorderly conduct and trespassing after she allegedly recorded and encouraged an assault on a New York Times photographer.
William Blauser Jr., who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally, entered the Capitol with the mob holding a sign bearing Mastriano’s gubernatorial campaign slogan, “Walk as Free People.” Blauser was charged with three misdemeanors and entered a guilty plea to the charge of “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.”
Blauser traveled to the Capitol with Pauline Bauer, a McKean County pizza shop owner who can be heard in body camera footage taken inside the Capitol rotunda saying, “Bring [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that fucking bitch” and “Bring them out, they’re criminals … they need to hang.” A photo included with FBI case documents shows Bauer wearing a Mastriano shirt on Jan. 5.
Bauer, who has been indicted on five counts and whose trial is scheduled for next month, has been jailed since Sept. 17, 2021. Her requests for pretrial release were denied after she claimed she was “not a person” and not subject to federal law and cited the Bible in an argument with the Trump-appointed judge presiding over her case, rhetoric experts say is used among adherents of the so-called sovereign citizen movement, who believe they are not subject to state or federal law, based on a series of conspiracy theories about the U.S. government.
Donald Smith, a Lindenwold UPS worker, is facing up to a year in prison for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6. Officials said Smith, who was arrested after co-workers reported him to the FBI for boasting about breaking into Pelosi’s office and calling the insurrection “the best day of his life,” had previously donated $1,000 to Mastriano’s state Senate campaign.
Samuel Lazar, who was arrested in July 2021, has posed for photographs with Mastriano at least a half-dozen times, including for several taken after Jan. 6. Lazar, who said of his actions, “I was right at the front, on the tip of the spear, brother. That’s where you gotta be,” was accused of spraying a chemical irritant at Capitol Police officers and has been charged with assaulting and obstructing law enforcement. Mastriano said he did not know Lazar personally, a claim Lazar’s siblings dispute as a politically motivated attempt by Mastriano to create distance from potentially controversial supporters.
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