By Ian Karbal | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
The U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee voted on party lines Wednesday to advance state Sen. Doug Mastriano’s (R-Franklin) nomination to be ambassador to Slovakia.
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The former GOP gubernatorial candidate was tapped for the post by President Donald Trump in May.
Mastriano said then he will continue to serve in the Pennsylvania Senate as his confirmation process proceeds. With the committee vote Wednesday, Mastriano is set to face a floor vote in the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate.
In a committee hearing last week, Democratic members probed Mastriano about his views and actions around the 2020 election.
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Nearly six years, ago, Mastriano became one of the most vocal proponents in Pennsylvania of Trump’s debunked claims that the election was stolen from him. As a state senator, he unsuccessfully pushed the Pennsylvania legislature to overturn the popular vote in the commonwealth, hosted Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani at a partisan state Senate Committee hearing in Gettysburg weeks after the 2020 election, attended the Jan. 6 rally that led to a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol and spent campaign money bussing supporters to Washington, D.C. that day as well.
Under questioning by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mastriano refused to directly answer questions about who won the 2020 election.
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“Joe Biden was certified,” Mastriano said in response to a question about who won the popular vote and electoral college.
Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, who was also on the committee, advocated for Mastriano. Introducing him, he highlighted the lawmaker’s military service.
During a three decade military career, Mastriano spent time in Europe, first in Germany and Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War, and later at the NATO Land Headquarters in Germany. He was deployed during Operation Desert Storm and the Afghanistan War, and in 2017, retired at the rank of colonel after teaching strategic studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle.
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“The Slovak Republic is an important NATO ally located at the strategic crossroads of central Europe,” McCormick said. “At a time when that alliance faces significant security challenges … this position needs a leader with strategic judgement, intimate knowledge of NATO’s inner workings and first-hand experience working alongside our allies with an unwavering commitment to advancing America’s interest.”
Along with probing his activities around the 2020 elections, Democrats challenged Mastriano over past comments and allegedly antisemitic statements.
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Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) accused Mastriano of associating with Holocaust deniers and making antisemitic statements. She questioned him about his history of comparing U.S. policies he dislike to the Holocaust and evoking persecution in Nazi Germany to describe his double-digit defeat by Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2022.
Mastriano said he has since worked with Pennsylvania’s Jewish community to increase funding for Holocaust education and said, “today I would not do that.”
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The 12-10 committee vote followed threats by Texas Republican John Cornyn to derail Mastriano’s nomination.
Cornyn told a reporter with the outlet Semafor that he would block the nominations of Mastriano and another Trump ally Kari Lake, who was nominated to be ambassador to Jamaica, unless the Trump administration moved to release funds intended to fight AIDS in Africa.
Ultimately, Cornyn voted for Mastriano’s nomination Wednesday.
