On Tuesday, NPR Pittsburgh reported on how the House January 6 Select Committee, set to officially dissolve today, zoomed in on two key Pennsylvania Republicans as central to the plot to overturn the results of the election: Rep. Scott Perry, and state Sen. Doug Mastriano.
"The committee said midstate Rep. Scott Perry and State Sen. Doug Mastriano — who would later win the Republican nomination for governor — worked to keep Trump in power after his loss to Joe Biden," reported Robby Brod. "Throughout the year, as they ran for office amid Justice Department and congressional inquiries about the insurrection, their efforts to help Trump overturn the election were repeatedly in the news."
Perry's involvement has been widely reported. He connected Trump with Jeffrey Clark, who went on to become a key insurgent at the Justice Department trying to push law enforcement officials to pressure states not to certify their results — a plan that was only thwarted when huge numbers of DOJ lawyers threatened to resign. Perry was also in contact with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and pushed him to demand an investigation into various conspiracy theories like "Italygate," which claimed Italian satellites were used to remotely hack U.S. voting machines in 2020.
Mastriano, meanwhile, provided for Rudy Giuliani's baseless "fraud" hearing in Pennsylvania, went on to provide funding and buses for Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally, and was even at the Capitol complex during the riot, where he went past police barricades. He later lied that he had never done so.
"No fraud was detected during multiple audits of Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results," said the report. "The committee recommended Perry face sanctions from the House Ethics Committee for failing to respond to a subpoena requesting his testimony. Perry and Mastriano’s connections to the January 6th Capitol attack were called 'particularly notable,' adding that further investigation was needed to get the full scope of their involvement with Trump’s plan to stay in power."
Perry was re-elected to Congress in this year's midterms. Mastriano, however, lost by 15 points to Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who will now serve as Pennsylvania's governor.
