Mastriano, once again, proven to have lied about involvement in Jan. 6 insurrection — pictured watching rioters “face off with police at the Capitol steps” on Jan. 6.
PENNSYLVANIA — Newly unearthed photos and video obtained by NBC News “appear to show Mastriano holding up his cell phone as rioters in the front of the mob face off with police at the Capitol steps.”
Mastriano has already been subpoenaed for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection — leading the effort to overturn the 2020 election, crossing police barricades on January 6th, and using thousands of dollars in campaign funds to bus Pennsylvanians to the Capitol that day. At least five of Mastriano’s supporters have already been charged for their involvement at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
In his first public comments on the insurrection since the Jan. 6 Committee hearings began, Mastriano also “compared the Jan. 6 attack to historical events staged by Nazis, responding to a question by saying that he saw ‘parallels’ between the response to the Jan. 6 attack and the 1933 Reichstag fire, which Adolf Hitler used to seize additional power.”
“Every day, more comes to light about Doug Mastriano’s involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on our country — making crystal clear that Doug Mastriano is the most dangerous gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania history, and wholly unfit to serve as the next Governor of Pennsylvania,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Marisa Nahem. “While Mastriano remains obsessed with the past, focusing on championing election conspiracies about the 2020 presidential election, Pennsylvanians deserve a Governor who will focus on the present and the future — and that is clearly not Doug Mastriano.”
By Ryan Reilly, 06/14/22
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A member of the online sleuths Sedition Hunters — individuals who have spent the past 17 months investigating the Jan. 6 attack and identifying hundreds of rioters to law enforcement — say they have found new photos of Mastriano on the Capitol grounds moments before the rioters breached a police barricade line on the eastern side of the U.S. Capitol. Minutes later, rioters smashed the window of a door leading into the Capitol rotunda, according to timelines the online sleuths have constructed using the videos, photos, press coverage and social media posts of the day.
Online sleuths have assisted the FBI in hundreds of Capitol riot investigations, successfully identifying rioters months before they are arrested.
NBC News has reviewed the videos and images used to construct the timelines and compared other images of Mastriano at the rally with those identified by the sleuths. In the images, Mastriano appears to be wearing the same scarf and hat and located in a consistent place in the crowd. In the series of images, Mastriano is accompanied by a woman who appears to be his wife, and Mastriano has publicly acknowledged that his wife was with him that day. He has never disputed his identification in previous images.
The images, shared with NBC News, appear to show Mastriano holding up his cell phone as rioters in the front of the mob face off with police at the Capitol steps. Reconstructed timelines and other videos filmed nearby show rioters would breach this police line within minutes, ripping away a crowd control rope line and rushing past officers up the stairs. The timelines and videos, including unedited versions, that show Mastriano in the crowd were reviewed by NBC News.
Online sleuths also identified a video posted by “Stop The Steal” organizer Mike Coudrey on Jan. 6 appears to show Mastriano taking photos or video with his cell phone as rioters face off with police on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Coudrey’s tweet celebrated the mob, which he said “broke through 4 layers of security at the Capitol building.
Mastriano’s campaign did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment. Mastriano previously said he “respected all police lines as I came upon them” and that he never stepped foot on the Capitol stairs. One of his campaign aides, Grant Clarkson was near the front of the mob, NBC previously reported. There has been no evidence that Clarkson entered the Capitol that day and he has insisted he did not.
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