Mike Flynn likens insurrectionists to Jesus at event for candidate tied to Jan 6th

Doug Mastriano, a state senator who became a leading “Big Lie” figure nationally, kicked off his Republican campaign for Pennsylvania governor today with no less a wingnut than former Army General Mike Flynn.

The noted conspiracy theorist -- who was pardoned by Trump after pleading guilty to lying about his contacts to Russia during his brief stint as national security adviser -- didn’t disappoint. Here’s how the York Daily record reported it:

“Flynn compared insurrectionists to Jesus Christ, saying Jesus at 13 years old went into “the temple and ransacked it. He would be called a domestic terrorist today.”

That was a fitting sendoff for Mastriano who, as the newspaper noted, “became a leading national figure in former President Donald Trump's push to overturn certified election results.”

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Here’s more from the reporting:

“(Mastriano) officially started his candidacy Saturday afternoon in Gettysburg the same way he has spent much of the last year, pushing election lies that have been debunked by conservative and liberal judges alike. Mastriano has also led opposition to medical recommendations during the pandemic.

Mastriano is part of a cadre of military men who have worked to convince Americans the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. He was flanked at his Saturday announcement by Flynn, who peddled unproven conspiracy theories that voting machines were hacked by the Chinese government to make Trump lose. Jenna Ellis, a Trump attorney who worked to overturn election results, also appeared with Mastriano.”

Among his pro-insurrection credits, Mastriano not only traveled to Washington D.C. on January 6, but also had his campaign pay for three buses to the event. In late November, Mastriano hosted a hearing in Gettysburg with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, “a platform for multiple unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud,” the newspaper reported.

Mastriano traveled to Arizona to promote the bogus “election audit.” After that “His name has come up a lot whenever we follow money tied to election questioning," said Anna Massoglia, editorial and investigations manager at Open Secrets, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit watchdog that tracks campaign finance.