By: Adam Beam 1/3/2024
Sen. Art Haywood, D-PA, announced on Tuesday that he will be filing a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee to determine if Doug Mastriano, R-PA, should be held responsible for comments made in support of former President Donald Trump. Mastriano supported the Trump campaign's claims of election fraud that cost Trump a second term.
The announcement by Haywood cites several documented cases of Mastriano speaking at rallies and hearings, alleging that votes cast in the 2020 presidential election, which secured Joe Biden's victory, were illegitimate.
“All three branches of the federal government have referred to the events of January 6, 2021, as an ‘insurrection’ and the participants as ‘insurrectionists,’ including bipartisan majorities of both Houses of Congress, President Biden, the Department of Justice, and more than a dozen federal courts,” Haywood explained. “The January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was the culmination of an unprecedented and concerted effort to prevent the peaceful transition of power through illegal and violent means.”
Mastriano responded to Sen. Haywood's request on his Facebook page, in which he wrote, "What is truly unethical is a senator using his bully pulpit to attack the freedom of speech of those he disagrees with. The senator should tread carefully with this new precedent." He concluded the post with, "This stunt will not intimidate or silence me."
Doug Mastriano has been the Republican representative for PA's 33rd Senatorial District, serving parts of Adams and Franklin County, since 2019.
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