About a month ago, in a post titled “Army Chaplain Running for Congress Denies that Biden is President, Vows to ‘Take on AOC,’” I wrote about Army Reserve 1LT Alex Stovall, a GOP candidate for Congress from Arizona.
In that previous post, I said that 1LT Stovall was violating both military regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) — the military regulations that prohibit the wearing of the uniform in political campaign ads and interviews, and Article 88 of the UCMJ, titled “Contempt toward officials,” which states (emphasis added):
“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
How was 1LT Stovall violating Article 88? By denying that Joe Biden is the president. Stovall, in an appearance on the GunFreedomRadio podcast, had very publicly made his made his opinion of Joe Biden and the legitimacy of the 2020 election very clear, saying:
"We saw the inauguration of this well, I don't think he's President but whoever you would call this sleepy guy in office"
On May 27, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanding that 1LT Stovall be punished for his violation of military regulations and open contempt for the President of the United States.
And on May 28 the Army Times reported that the U.S. Army Reserve Command was investigating 1LT Stovall.
“We are aware of the situation and are investigating,” Lt. Col. Simon Flake, an Army Reserve Command spokesman, told Army Times. “Due to the ongoing investigation we are unable to provide more information at this time.”
LTC Flake further told the Army Times:
“The U.S. Army Reserve follows the Department of Defense’s long standing policy regarding service member involvement in partisan political campaigns to avoid the perception of DoD sponsorship, approval, or endorsement of any partisan political candidate, campaign, or cause.” … “Standard procedural steps are being taken to ensure the investigation is conducted in a timely and thorough manner and appropriate rights will be afforded to all involved.”
The very next day after the Army Times reported that Stovall was under investigation, 1LT Stovall, rather than showing any concern, became even more brazen, not only doubling down on his opinion that President Biden isn’t the legitimate president by calling him “Resident Biden,” but adding even more UCMJ-violating contemptuous words about the president — by tweeting from his campaign Twitter account several tweets implying that Biden is a pedophile!
First, he retweeted a video of compiled clips of President Biden at various events, intended to make it look like the president was inappropriately touching the young girls who were present, saying of the retweeted video, “I’ll just leave this here.”
Then, an hour later, referring to President Biden’s somewhat awkwardly telling a little girl at a military event how grown up she looked, tweeted (emphasis added):
“Resident Biden believes a 6 year old looks 19
In or out of uniform I will never accept these comments as normal or acceptable
How many people feel good about his statements ? .. Ill wait.
I said what I said”
He also retweeted a tweet from Florida state representative and Trump sycophant Anthony Sabatini saying that the result of the Arizona audit was going to be “earth shattering,”
1LT Stovall’s doubling down on the very offenses that he knew he was under investigation for by the Army Reserve Command prompted MRFF founder and president Mikey Weinstein to pen an open letter to President Biden, headed “Prosecute Army Officer Who Says You’re Not President (But Are a Pedophile).”
But wait! There’s more!
In the last few days, 1st LT Stovall has become even more brazen.
He has now changed his name on his campaign Twitter page to include his military rank – changing it from "Alex Stovall" to "1LT Alex Stovall" – and now describes himself in his Twitter bio as "1LT Running to take on AOC’s corruption." This use of his military rank for political purposes in this manner is yet another blatant violation of military regulations on political activities, the same regulations that he is already under investigation for violating!
And even more …
There is another “big lie” in 1LT Stovall’s tweets and campaign videos and appearances — his claim that he’s a military chaplain. He isn’t! He is merely a chaplain candidate. And even though his chaplain lie was exposed by the Army Times, he persists in his fallacious claim, keeping his lie up as the pinned tweet at the top of his campaign Twitter page.
In light of 1LT and GOP candidate Stovall’s continued flaunting of military regulations and the UCMJ, MRFF’s Mikey Weinstein has once again reached out to Lieutenant General Jody Daniels, the Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command, demanding that Stovall be punished. The following was the email exchange yesterday:
From: Michael L Weinstein <mikeyw4444@icloud.com>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2021 11:18 AM
To: Daniels, Jody J LTG USARMY OCAR (USA)
Cc: Trombley, Katherine A COL USARMY OCAR (USA) ; Schlass, Brandon James MAJ USARMY OCAR (USA)
Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Stovall is getting even more brazen
…1LT Stovall also still has his pinned post up at the top of his **Twitter page with the blatant lie that he's a chaplain….he is NOT a military “chaplain”…he’s merely a “chaplain candidate”…DO SOMETHING!!!!!
https://twitter.com/Alexforarizona
……..LGEN Daniels, what is taking so long to “investigate" here, ma’am??!!….1LT. Stovall must be punished asap!!…..his violations are getting even more egregious and are SO OBVIOUS!!!….are you KIDDING me??!!….Mikey Weinstein/MRFF 505-250-7727
From: Chris Rodda
Subject: Stovall is getting even more brazen
Date: June 21, 2021 at 8:23:40 AM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein
Stovall is getting even more brazen about using his military rank for his political campaign. He has changed his name on his campaign Twitter page from "Alex Stovall" to "1LT Alex Stovall," and now describes himself in his Twitter bio as "1LT Running to take on AOC’s corruption."
On Jun 21, 2021, at 11:45 AM, Trombley, Katherine A COL USARMY OCAR (USA) wrote:
Mr. Weinstein,
This responds to your several e-mail submissions to LTG Daniels. US Army Reserve leaders take ethical obligations seriously and steps have been taken to respond to this situation at the appropriate level of command. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
Very Respectfully,
Katherine A. Trombley
COL
Executive Officer to the Chief of Army Reserve &
CG, US Army Reserve Command
From: Michael L Weinstein <mikeyw4444@icloud.com>
Date: June 21, 2021 at 11:53:36 AM MDT
To: "Trombley, Katherine A COL USARMY OCAR (USA)"
Cc: Schlass, Brandon James MAJ USARMY OCAR (USA)
Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Stovall is getting even more brazen
Thank you for your timely response Col. Trombley… However, telling us that “steps have been taken at the appropriate level“ seems 100% antithetical to the fact that First Lieutenant Stovall continues to only MORE egregiously violate DOD regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice in his wholly illegal attempts to use his military status as a “chaplain“ (I remind you that he is merely a chaplain CANDIDATE and not a full-fledged chaplain yet!) and an Army officer as an unlawful force multiplier to win a seat in the United States Congress… Thus, what, if ANYTHING, are you REALLY doing, if in fact ANYTHING, to expeditiously stop this travesty and punish this fundamentalist Christian nationalist outlaw?!…Mikey Weinstein, Founder and President, Military Religious Freedom Foundation… 505-250-7727…
So, where is that “timely and thorough” investigation that Army Reserve Command spokesman LTC Flake told the Army Times would be undertaken? It’s been almost a month, and in that month 1LT not-a-chaplain Stovall has become even more brazen and insolent. Will the Army just let him continue to flagrantly violate military regulations and the UCMJ with impunity as it appears he thinks he can?
Is the United States military afraid to stand up to one first lieutenant?
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