Pa. lawmakers among the people included in Justice Department email trove
Written by Victoria Scialfa on June 16, 2021
Pa. lawmakers among the people included in Justice Department email trove
By Sam Dunklau / WITF
June 16, 2021
The U.S. Justice Department included writings by two Pennsylvania state lawmakers in a newly-released document trove provided to Congressional investigators.
They appear to show the Republicans’ role in a campaign to pressure the DOJ to investigate false election fraud claims.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams) outlined well over a dozen falsehoods in a five-page letter to the deputy attorney general.
All were either disproven before or after he wrote it.
But email records show an ally of former President Donald Trump held up the letter as something the department could use to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the state’s election results.
Rep. Frank Ryan (R-Lebanon) also was in the mix.
Records show he shared a discredited voter database discrepancy with a group that included mid-state Congressman Scott Perry (R-York/Adams/Cumberland)
Perry then shared it with Justice Department lawyers in an attempt to get them to act.
None of the three lawmakers could be reached for comment.
The House Oversight Committee, which is investigating the emails, says it plans to question anyone who “aided or witnessed” Trump’s attempts to reverse his election loss.
A U.S. House committee is reviewing the emails as part of a wider investigation into the events that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
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