CARLYSLE, Pennsylvania (AP) – Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, posed three years before leaving the US Army in Confederate uniform for photograph of a teacher at the Army War College.
The photo, which Reuters reported on Friday, was obtained after a request under a Freedom license. of information law, shows Mastriano in a uniform in portrait 2013-14 for department of Military strategy, plans and operations, where he worked until his retirement. in 2017. Reuters reported that teachers were provided with option of dresses like a historical figure, and although some have done so, only Mastriano is shown wearing Confederate uniform.
Army War College said in a statement that team in 2020 reviewed all arttext and images on display at Carlisle Barracks for alignment with Army values and educational philosophy of the college, but it did not include a photograph of the teachers, which “has since removed because it doesn’t match the AWC values.”
Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator, spread Donald Trump’s lie about widespread electoral fraud. in 2020 presidential election and was leading supporter in Pennsylvania of Trump drive overturn result. He was also in crowd outside US Capitol during January 6, 2021, attack by Trump supporters after attending a nearby “Stop theft” rally.
Mastriano did not immediately respond to requests for comment but retweeted comment Jenna Ellis, senior his legal adviser campaign, who said: “The media is melting that Mastriano apparently once posed as a historical figure of the civil war for a photo. As well as? He has a PhD in STORY.
” left wants to erase history. Doug Mastriano wants us to learn from this,” Ellis tweeted.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro blamed Mastriano of wearing “a uniform of traitors who fought for the defense of slavery”, calling it “deeply offensiveand saying it opponent was “unworthy to be governor.”
Mastriano served for three decades in army, retiring with the rank of colonel after serving in Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Confederate flags, symbols and statues increasingly divide the country in last years, with critics calling them symbols representing struggle save slavery and supporters calling them displays of Southern Pride and Heritage.
