In a recent interview with the Eugene Weekly, House Transportation & Infrastructure Chair Pete DeFazio appreared to minimize Former National Guard Sniper Alek Skarlatos’ heroism saying that the veteran and congressional candidate “accidentally became famous” after helping stop an ISIS gunman from carrying out a mass casualty terror attack on a train to Paris in 2015. Skarlatos, who had just come off of a nine month deployment to Afghanistan at the time of the attack, helped save hundreds of lives on the Thalys train after helping subdue the heavily armed terrorist who had already shot one passenger. In a statement released by the White House, then president, Barack Obama “expressed his profound gratitude for the courage and quick thinking of several passengers, including U.S. service members, who selflessly subdued the attacker." And, French President Francois Hollande awarded Skarlatos the Legion of Honour, France’s highest award, for his heroic actions.

“Pete DeFazio is running scared because he knows that he is losing this race and is resorting to baseless lies to try to turn his floundering campaign around. I didn’t take on an AK wielding terrorist while I was unarmed to become a celebrity, nor am I running for congress for personal gain,” said Skarlatos. “DeFazio only managed to get one thing right in his disgraceful tirade: I will be able to beat him in November.”

DeFazio, who has been in Congress for more than 33 years, has found himself in his toughest reelection ever as challenger Alek Skarlatos has continued to surge throughout the year, out fundraising the incumbent by large margins for all of 2020. Last week, DeFazio was caught lying about his stance regarding defunding police. DeFazio is later quoted in the Eugene Weekly article as saying that many believe that Skarlatos could defeat him; “It’s just by accident that he’s a national celebrity. Now they’ve moved up my race to first tier because they think he is the guy who could do it.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-09-04 13:06:30