From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Sen. Art Haywood, a Democrat representing parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties and an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump’s, announced Tuesday that he will file an ethics complaint this week asking the state Senate’s ethics committee to investigate Mastriano’s role in trying to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election.
And from PennLive:
[Sen. Haywood] said Mastriano needs to be held accountable for organizing and speaking at rallies to promote the idea that votes cast in that election were illegitimate, organizing a hearing at which unsworn testimony proven to be false was offered by Trump advisors, and among other allegations, being present on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.
“All three branches of the federal government have referred to the events of January 6 as an insurrection and the participants in such events as insurrectionists,” Haywood said. “These are serious actions and conduct and statements, so serious that they require an investigation by the Senate of Pennsylvania to whether these actions violate Senate ethics rules and whether the consequences of such action warrant the highest consequence of expulsion or reprimand or censure.”
The Inquirer goes on to state that the complaint is based largely on this report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
In response, State Senator Doug Mastriano issued
this statement
in which he attacked Senator Haywood and CREW and while ignoring any of the
facts.
Also, he included this:
What is truly unethical is a Senator using his bully pulpit to attack the freedom of speech of those he disagrees with.
But Senator, this is not about your freedom of speech, is it?
Take a look at some of the facts in that CREW report:
In the lead-up to January 6th, Senator Mastriano was one of former President Trump’s most
important state allies in his failed effort to overturn Pennsylvania’s presidential election results. The day after the Pennsylvania Department of State certified the general election results declaring Joe Biden the winner of the Commonwealth’s electoral votes, Mastriano and other GOP lawmakers hosted Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani at a “hearing” in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The hearing—which in reality was a town hall-type meeting—gave Giuliani, Mastriano, and former President Trump (who appeared by phone) the opportunity to perpetuate false claims that the general election had been rigged due to so-called voting irregularities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. These claims became part of the larger movement known as “Stop the Steal,” which was based on the false premise that the 2020 election was stolen and that the certification of the 2020 election and the transfer of presidential power needed to be stopped. This movement successfully mobilized and incited thousands of people from across the country to form a violent mob in Washington, D.C. to attempt to intimidate Vice President Pence and Congress to “stop the steal” on January 6, 2021.
Senator, this is "Act 8" from the Georgia Indictment:
On or about the 25th day of November 2020, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI and JENNA LYNN ELLIS appeared, spoke, and presented witnesses at a meeting of Pennsylvania legislators in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During the meeting, RUDOLPH WILLIAM LOUIS GIULIANI made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. During the meeting, JENNA LYNN ELLIS solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. DONALD JOHN TRUMP joined the meeting by telephone, made false statements concerning fraud in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania, and solicited, requested, and importuned the Pennsylvania legislators present at the meeting to unlawfully appoint presidential electors from Pennsylvania. These were overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. [Bolding and CAPS in original.]
And by the way, "acts in furtherance of the conspiracy" are not protected by the First Amendment. And then there's this:
Mastriano also served as the Trump campaign’s “point person” in the Pennsylvania fake electors scheme, meaning he was the person the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee were in touch with about selecting a “fake” slate of electors. The fake electors scheme was vital to Donald Trump’s extra-legal January 6th strategy to pressure Vice President Pence to reject the legitimate Electoral College results. The idea was that by receiving multiple slates of electors from so-called disputed states, Pence would be able to falsely claim the results were in dispute and therefore either accept the fake Republican slates or send the issue back to the state legislatures for resolution.
As the Select Committee found in its final report, the “fake elector effort was an unlawful, unprecedented, and destructive break from the electoral college process” and it “led directly to the violence that occurred on January 6th.”
Again, not protected by the First Amendment.
Senator Mastriano tucked this bit of demagoguery into his statement:
I do not need a lecture on the U.S. Constitution. I volunteered to defend it while serving our nation for over 30 years as an officer in the U.S. Army.
Apparently you do, Senator.
You took an oath to support, obey and defend the US Constitution when you were sworn into the PA Legislature and you betrayed that oath by participating in Trump's attempted coup.
