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May 17, 2022

Some Questions About PA State Senator Doug Mastriano's Aide Grant Clarkson

I'm not sure you saw it but something interesting bubbled up on NBC News yesterday.

Chronologically, the story starts here:

This is about the  guy with the collar length hair. Keep him in mind as you read the story from Ryan Reilly:

A staffer with Doug Mastriano's Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign who helped block media access to an event over the weekend was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he appeared to smile and laugh as rioters smashed media equipment on Capitol grounds.

Grant Clarkson is one of the Mastriano campaign associates who prevented reporters from covering an event over the weekend hosted by Mastriano and Kathy Barnette, a Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, according to an NBC News analysis of photos and video from the event matched with his online social media presence. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Mastriano, a far-right state senator who supported Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and was himself on the grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Grant Clarkson.

Reilly posted this picture of Clarkson further down that twitter feed:

There he is, striking a pose, on the far far left of the picture.

Grant! You're a superstar. Yes that's what you are! You know it!

Ha. I made a joke with a 32 year-old song reference. I don't think Grant himself is that old.

Anyway, what else can we learn about good ole Grant?

Rawstory has some info:

A site that tracks congressional salaries shows Clarkson as a Congressional intern for Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) and Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) until May 13, 2020. At the time of the attack, Clarkson was no longer an intern nor was he a staffer in Congress. 

He was once an intern for Representative Guy Reschenthaler?? 

Good to know.

So now that it's been established that an aide to PA State Senator Doug Mastriano was at the January 6 insurrection, there's so many questions:

  • How did he get there?
  • Did he ride on one of the buses Mastriano chartered?
  • Was he working for/with/in conjunction with Mastriano on January 6?
  • If not, when did he start working for Mastriano?
  • Does he, Clarkson, expect to be questioned by the FBI anytime soon for his involvement in both Mastriano's campaign and in Trump's coup attempt?