CNN reached out to Mastriano’s campaign for comment. Reuters reported on Friday that the photo was released by the Army War College following a Freedom of Information Act request. The Army War College removed the photo from the faculty group’s photo wall after Reuters requested comment, the agency said. “The faculty photo did not catch the attention of the group; the photo has since been removed because it does not meet AWC values,” the college said in a statement to Reuters. The Confederate flag, its symbols, and statues commemorating Confederate leaders have long divided the country. Critics say the symbols represent the war in support of slavery, while supporters call them signs of Southern pride and heritage. The symbols have been used by white supremacists, and in recent years the Department of Defense has taken steps to ban Confederate symbols. Mastriano’s opponent in the gubernatorial race, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, tweeted on Friday, “Doug Mastriano wore the uniform of the traitors he fought to defend slavery at official US War College grounds.” “The College condemned him, saying it ‘does not reflect our values.’ It’s deeply offensive and proves who he is, once again. He is unfit to be Governor,” Shapiro added. Jenna Ellis, Mastriano’s senior legal counsel, defended the photo of Mastriano in Confederate garb in a tweet on Friday, writing: “The media MELTED that Mastriano apparently once posed as a Civil War historical figure for a photo. And? He has a Ph .D in HISTORY. The left wants to erase history. @dougmastriano wants us to learn from it. I invite @Reuters to go on a tour of Gettysburg with Doug. You’ll learn a lot!” Mastriano served in the military for 30 years. According to his Senate biography, he earned a doctorate in history, taught at the Army War College and published a book about a famous World War I Army soldier, Alvin York. After retiring from the military in 2017, Mastriano launched a campaign for Congress in 2018, finishing fourth among eight candidates in the Republican primary for an open seat in the US House of Representatives. The following year, Mastriano won a special election for his state Senate seat in rural, southern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s 33rd district, which Mastriano serves as a state senator, includes Gettysburg, site of the Battle of Gettysburg — the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. A victory for Donald Trump-backed Mastriano in November would give someone who sought to overturn the will of voters in 2020 power over the voting machinery in one of the nation’s most important battlegrounds in the 2024 presidential race. In Pennsylvania , the governor appoints the secretary of state — the person responsible for conducting the Commonwealth’s elections and signing its electors. Shapiro, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, defended the outcome of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election and is emphasizing voting and abortion rights in his campaign.
