Philadelphia Inquirer: “Pennsylvania Republicans are feuding anew over their pursuit of an Arizona-style partisan review of the 2020 election, with a top GOP lawmaker criticizing a leading election denier in the state and saying he remains committed to the kind of probe that former President Donald Trump has long demanded. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman on Friday lashed out at fellow Sen. Doug Mastriano, a top proponent of the review. Corman said Mastriano failed to get the job done and that he will tap another senator to take up the cause.”
“Corman’s rebuke came a day after Mastriano said on Facebook that ‘the powers that be’ had stopped him from pursuing an investigation. And Mastriano told the pro-Trump outlet OAN this week that Republican leaders in Harrisburg have ‘done nothing but stonewall me.’ Mastriano, a likely candidate for governor, sent letters to three counties last month demanding they turn over election-related equipment and ballots for the 2020 general election and 2021 primary. Each refused to comply, and Mastriano had said he planned to issue subpoenas through the committee he chairs. But weeks went by without a committee hearing, and the intra-party fight spilled into public view this week. Mastriano told OAN he tried to convene a meeting of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee on Aug. 6, but Senate leadership canceled his reservation for a room in the Capitol. Mastriano said Corman also threatened to strip him of his chairmanship and fire his staff if he moved forward with a review. Jason Thompson, a spokesperson for Corman, said Mastriano’s ‘story about the committee room drama is little more than a contrived fairy tale.’ He said Mastriano’s Capitol staff “has been temporarily reassigned since Mastriano is more concerned with grandstanding than actually getting things done.’ On Friday, Corman said it was ‘deeply disappointing that Sen. Mastriano has retreated from conducting a forensic investigation of the election in Pennsylvania, and it is discouraging to realize that he was only ever interested in politics and showmanship and not actually getting things done.’