A GOP candidate for Congress who opposes the Jan. 6 select committee was up close at the riot

Teddy Daniels, a Republican candidate for Congress from northeastern Pennsylvania, sought attention for his campaign Wednesday by trying to mock police officers who testified this week in a hearing about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Daniels, who lives in Wayne County and identifies himself on his website as a former police officer, said in a Facebook post that the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers weren’t “real street cops” because they became emotional while telling their stories.

We wanted to know more about Daniels’ time in uniform, but the tough-talker didn’t respond to Clout’s hails. He appeared on One America News on Wednesday evening, complaining about Republican House members Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois serving on the select committee examining the events of Jan. 6. “That has to stop immediately,” he said.

Daniels, who finished second in a six-candidate 2020 primary for Pennsylvania’s 8th District, is again trying for a shot at defeating five-term Democrat Matt Cartwright, who called Daniels’ Facebook post an outrage. So far Daniels is the only Republican running in what is likely to be one of the most competitive districts in the country.

“There were 86 Capitol police people who were injured that day,” Cartwright said. “They were out there fighting essentially a medieval battle against half-crazed lunatics.”

Daniels had a front-row view for all that.

On Jan. 6 he posted on Twitter and Facebook a 12-second video that appears to be from the Capitol’s East Plaza, about 90 minutes after rioters broke into the building. Daniels posted: “I’m here. God bless our patriots.”

Daniels also tweeted “America is worth fighting for. We have the numbers and the truth. Let’s keep going” just minutes after the Capitol was breached.

If Daniels shot the video, he would have been well beyond the police barricades that day, according to sources within the “sedition hunters” community, open-source researchers who have pored over photos and videos of the insurrection and whose findings have been cited by the FBI in court filings charging rioters.

Some defendants they have helped identify have been charged with crimes that allegedly occurred in close proximity to where Daniels’ video appears to have been filmed.

The 8th District has more Democratic voters than Republican but swung for President Donald Trump in 2020.

Daniels sought Trump’s support in late June, posting pictures on Twitter of himself posing with the ex-president and his daughter Ivanka at their golf club in New Jersey.

Good news for former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain — Trump finally said his name in public.

Bad news for McSwain — Trump needed two tries to get his name right.

The ex-president first called him “William McShade” while speaking Saturday at a Turning Points USA event in Arizona. Trump checked his teleprompter and asked the crowd: “Have you ever heard of him? William, William McSwain?”

That’s probably not the endorsement McSwain, now gearing up for the 2022 Republican primary for governor, was hoping for. Clout is guessing here since McSwain has been dodging us for weeks as Trump uses him as a cudgel to beat on former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.

Trump told the crowd McSwain “published a stunning letter” claiming “his office received allegations of large-scale voter fraud, this is Philadelphia, and election irregularities all over Philadelphia.” Trump also claimed Barr ordered McSwain to “stand down” when he wanted to investigate.

As with most of what Trump says about the 2020 election, none of that is true.

Trump, who has twice before cited McSwain by title but not by name in speeches, released the letter. McSwain, writing in June to woo Trump’s endorsement, said his office “received various allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities” but didn’t say they came from Philadelphia. McSwain also complained that he was directed to share information with state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the apparent Democratic front-runner for governor.

McSwain’s letter does not say he was ordered to not investigate election issues.

Barr told The Inquirer two weeks ago McSwain’s letter was written “in a very deceptive way that is intended to convey an impression … that he was restrained from looking into election fraud.”

Barr said McSwain wanted to “flap his gums” with political pronouncements about the election and had to be pushed to do the actual work of investigating voter fraud claims.

Gov. Tom Wolf made it official last week: He won’t help his fellow Democrats take back control of the Philadelphia Parking Authority after 20 years of Republican control.

Wolf appointed Republicans Beth Grossman, the GOP nominee for district attorney in 2017, and attorney Patricia Furlong to 10-year terms, replacing outgoing Chair Joe Ashdale and board member Karen Wrigley.

Grossman and Furlong were nominated last month by State House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Lancaster County Republican. Wolf could have rejected Cutler’s nominees and asked for at least one Democrat, which could have started a shift in political control for the revenue-rich, patronage-laden agency, since the governor gets to appoint two members next year.

Instead, the six-member board appears headed toward a 3-3 tie for Republicans and Democrats next summer, if Wolf appoints two Democrats.

Grossman and Furlong are expected to be sworn in before the board’s Aug. 24 meeting.

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this column.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.