A defamation lawsuit brought by state Sen. Dan Laughlin has shed new light on GOP politics at the local, state and national levels, including efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
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Most notably, the lawsuit — filed against the Erie County Democratic Party chairman and an alternative newspaper the chairman writes for — has led to the unearthing of a previously unreleased email sent by state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump. Mastriano, R-Franklin, worked with Trump's inner circle to push debunked conspiracies about election fraud, as The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported last week.
"POTUS just called me," Mastriano wrote in an email to an undisclosed group of recipients on Dec. 14, 2020, to tout a bogus "report" about Dominion Voting machines in Michigan. "He asked that I share the attached with you, which the judge who heard the case allowed to be released. ...This may potentially impact any state that had used Dominion voting machines," including many Pennsylvania counties.
The email, which was obtained during legal discovery in the Laughlin lawsuit, is another snapshot of Mastriano's role in attempting to flip Pennsylvania's Electoral College votes to Trump between the Nov. 3, 2020, general election and the Jan. 6, 2021,...
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