A day or so ago, RollingStone published an exclusive. This is the headline:
According to the Tim Dickinson, the reporter for Rollingstone, the online meeting took place on Dec 30, 2020.
There are a number of biblical references in the prayer and an exploration of some might be fruitful and multiply our understanding of Doug's mindset.
Dickinson starts the piece with such an exploration:
A week before Jan. 6, on a Zoom call organized by far-right Christian Nationalists seeking to reinstall Donald Trump in the White House, a man with a booming baritone voice bowed his bald head and began to pray. “We remember the promises of old,” he said, before invoking the book of Revelations and its account of the End Times: “We know we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and not loving our lives unto death.”
It's Revelation 12:11, by the way:
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
So how far has this mix of politics and Christian Nationalism gone?
There's local coverage at WTAE:
Rolling Stone obtained the video from a researcher and describes it as "A Zoom call organized by far-right Christian Nationalists seeking to reinstall Donald Trump in the White House."
A pledge to "seize the power" was part of Mastriano's prayer.
"We'll seize the power that we have given to us by the Constitution and as well by You," Mastriano says as he is seen and heard praying in the video.
Mastriano was in Washington on Jan. 6 but said he "respected all police lines as he came upon them."
He chartered buses to take supporters of then-President Donald Trump to Washington on Jan. 6. His Zoom prayer was for leaders to "rise up" on that day.
"I pray for the leaders also in the federal government, God, on the sixth of January, that they will rise up with boldness," Mastriano says in the video.
And:
In the Zoom video, Mastriano also prays over letters urging Congress to "disregard" Pennsylvania election results and promoting debunked claims of election fraud. The Zoom call was billed as a "Global Prayer for Election Integrity."
In the video, Mastriano prays to God: "You'll bless these letters that President Trump asked me this morning to send to Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy outlining the fraud in Pennsylvania. And this will embold them to stand firm and disregard what has happened in Pennsylvania until we have an investigation."
National coverage from Salon:
A clip of a prayer led by Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is now circulating online.
According to Rolling Stone, the prayer meeting is said to have been organized by Jim Garlow, who is described as "a prominent figure in the far-right New Apostolic Restoration (NAR) movement." The prayer meeting reportedly aligned with Garlow's beliefs which center around the ideology of the government operating around biblical principles.
And:
Other religious leaders also expressed similar sentiments. Abby Abildness, a well-known, Pennsylvania-based NAR pastor, weighed in with her sentiments during a prayer of her own. "We look for the victory that you have proclaimed Lord that there would be another term for Pence and for Trump to continue the righteous values that they have opened the door for in this nation," Abildness said.
James Goll, one of the movement's prophets also weighed in. "We say that the Spirit of God is at move," Goll intones. "And we release the word over senators."
International coverage from The Guardian:
A week before the Capitol attack, on a video call organised by a member of a Christian nationalist group, a Pennsylvania state senator who is the Republican candidate for governor in the battleground state prayed that supporters of Donald Trump would “seize the power” on 6 January 2021.
And:
On the Zoom call, Mastriano displayed what he said were “letters that President Trump asked me this morning to send to [Senate Republican leader] Mitch McConnell and [House leader] Kevin McCarthy, outlining the fraud in Pennsylvania, and this will embolden them to stand firm and disregard what has happened in Pennsylvania until they have an investigation”.
And so on.
You'll note that the reporting mentions that St Sen (and now GOP cand. for PA Gov) Doug Mastriano was involved in Trump's "fake elector" plan. He was subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee for information about it and everything.
I wonder if Doug responded to today's news with some nervousness:
Justice Department officials have seized the phones of two top advisers to former President Donald J. Trump and blanketed his aides with about 40 subpoenas in a substantial escalation of the investigation into his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, people familiar with the inquiry said on Monday.
The seizure of the phones, coupled with a widening effort to obtain information from those around Mr. Trump after the 2020 election, represent some of the most aggressive steps the department has taken thus far in its criminal investigation into the actions that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Specifically, this part:
Federal agents with court-authorized search warrants took phones last week from at least two people: Boris Epshteyn, an in-house counsel who helps coordinate Mr. Trump’s legal efforts, and Mike Roman, a campaign strategist who was the director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign in 2020, people familiar with the investigation said.
Mr. Epshteyn and Mr. Roman have been linked to a critical element of Mr. Trump’s bid to hold onto power: the effort to name slates of electors pledged to Mr. Trump from swing states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020 as part of a plan to block or delay congressional certification of Mr. Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Uh-oh. How much you wanna bet that Doug's name came up in conversation at some point?
Any comments for the blog, Doug?
