Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, appeared in a Confederate uniform for a faculty portrait at the Army War College three years prior to his retirement from the U.S. Army.
The image of Mastriano in uniform was taken in 2013–2014 for the Department of Military Strategy, Plans, and Operations, where he served until his retirement in 2017.
Reuters reported on Friday that it received the image after making a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
While a few staff members at the time chose to dress as historical figures, only Mastriano is seen donning a Confederate uniform, according to Reuters, which was informed of the situation.
The faculty photo “has since been removed because it does not meet AWC values,” according to a statement from the Army War College, which claimed that a team in 2020 had reviewed all artwork, text, and images displayed at the Carlisle barracks for alignment with Army values and the college’s educational philosophies.
Mastriano, a state senator from Pennsylvania, has propagated Donald Trump’s allegations about widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and was a key supporter of Trump’s effort to have the results overturned in that state.
After attending the neighbouring “Stop the Steal” event, he joined the mob outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, during the assault by Trump supporters.
A senior legal counsel to Mastriano’s campaign, Jenna Ellis, retweeted a remark made by Mastriano that said, “Media MELT DOWN that Mastriano supposedly once posed as a civil war historical figure for a picture. And? His PhD is in history.
The left wants to forget the past. Doug Mastriano wants us to take away something from it,” tweeted Ellis.
Josh Shapiro, a Democratic candidate for governor, said that Mastriano was “unfit to be governor” and that he was “wearing the uniform of traitors who fought to protect slavery.” He also called it “very disrespectful.”
Mastriano spent three decades in the Army and retired as a colonel after having served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Europe.
In recent years, the nation has been more split over Confederate flags, emblems, and monuments, which some see as symbols of the fight to keep slavery alive and others as expressions of Southern pride and tradition.