Nathan News

The political downfall of Republican House candidate JR Majewski in northern Ohio appears to be deepening a week after the Air Force said it could not corroborate his repeated claims that he had served in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the Air Force demoted Majewski in September 2001 for drunk driving at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan. Mr Majewski’s campaign previously told the news agency that involvement in a “fight” was the reason he could not re-enlist in the Air Force after his first four years. The AP cited military records it had obtained since its initial report last week on Majewski’s inconsistencies regarding his service, including where he served.

A campaign spokeswoman for Majewski, 42, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about his demotion. In a statement to the AP, Majewski acknowledged he was punished for drunk driving, although he did not explain why his campaign had previously said his demotion was the result of a fight.

“This mistake is now over 20 years old,” Majewski said in the statement. “I’m sure we all did something as young adults that we look back on and wonder, ‘What was I thinking? And I’m sure our parents and grandparents share those feelings.

The drip of revelations sent Mr. Majewski, who was heralded by former President Donald J. Trump, into damage control mode.

On September 22, shortly after Mr Majewski was accused of misrepresenting himself as a veteran, the Republican National Congressional Committee canceled TV ads he had booked in support of him. over the past six weeks of the campaign, according to AdImpact, a company that tracks campaign advertising.

The following day, Majewski insisted he remained in his race against longtime Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat. He said the records of his deployment to Afghanistan were “classified” and posted a photo on Twitter of an undated document that he said supported that claim, but military experts told the AP that there are several other steps Mr. Majewski could take to back up his claims, including having a supervisor or a peer to vouch for him.

This week, the candidate removed the Air Force logo from his campaign website, a change first reported by The Daily Beast.

Majewski was downgraded from Airman First Class to Basic Airman after being arrested for drunk driving on September 8, 2001, at the gate of Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. . He made no reference to a fight as contributing to Mr. Majewski’s demotion.

Mr. Majewski’s disciplinary report was not immediately available Thursday from the National Archives.

Mr. Majewski was deployed for six months in 2002 to Qatar, the Persian Gulf country that is now home to the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, according to Air Force records that The New York Times reviewed. last week.

The AP noted that he worked as a “passenger operations specialist” while in Qatar, helping load and unload planes. In addition to the Air Force records, the news agency used information it obtained through a public records request from the National Archives, which provided Mr. Majewski’s file to The Times on Wednesday. These documents made no mention of Afghanistan.

Inconsistencies in Mr Majewski’s public accounts of his military service have renewed scrutiny of the candidate, who had previously been questioned about his attendance at the US Capitol on the day of the Jan. 6 siege and his sympathies for the conspiracy movement QAnon.

The detailed role in Mr. Majewski’s military records stood in stark contrast to his repeated claims on right-wing social media and podcasts that he was in Afghanistan.

After the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan last year, Majewski chastised President Biden for the chaotic exit of forces there, saying in a Tweeter“I would love to get dressed and go back to Afghanistan tonight and do my best to save those Americans who have been left behind.”

He also mentioned Afghanistan during a February 2021 appearance on a podcast platform that has come under scrutiny for promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation.

“I lost my grandmother when I was in Afghanistan and couldn’t attend her funeral,” he said.