House Candidate Says He Served in Afghanistan, but Air Force Has No Record of It

J.R. Majewski, a Republican Home candidate in northern Ohio, has regularly promoted himself as a fight veteran who served in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults, however the U.S. Air Power has no file that he served there, unraveling a central narrative of his political ascension that has been heralded by former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Majewski, 42, was deployed for six months in 2002 to Qatar, the Persian Gulf nation that’s now dwelling to the most important U.S. air base within the Center East, in line with Air Power information obtained by The New York Occasions.

The Related Press reported earlier about Mr. Majewski’s misrepresentations of his navy service, noting that he labored as a “passenger operations specialist” whereas he was in Qatar, serving to to load and unload planes. Along with Air Power information, it used data that it had obtained by way of a public information request from the Nationwide Archives however that was not instantly accessible on Thursday.

Melissa Pelletier, a marketing campaign spokeswoman for Mr. Majewski, didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. In an announcement to The A.P., Mr. Majewski didn’t immediately tackle the inconsistencies, saying that his accomplishments had been beneath assault.

“I’m proud to have served my nation,” Mr. Majewski stated within the assertion.

The inconsistencies in Mr. Majewski’s public accounts of his navy service introduced renewed scrutiny to a candidate who had already been going through questions on his presence on the U.S. Capitol on the day of the Jan. 6 siege and sympathies for the QAnon conspiracy motion.

The fallout from the revelations gave the impression to be swift and vital, with the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee on Thursday canceling tv advertisements it had booked for the ultimate six weeks of the marketing campaign in help of Mr. Majewski, in line with AdImpact, a agency that tracks marketing campaign promoting. The choice was additionally reported by Medium Buying, a political promoting information web site.

A spokesman for the N.R.C.C. didn’t instantly reply to a number of requests for touch upon Thursday.

In response to questions from The Occasions, Rose M. Riley, an Air Power spokeswoman, stated on Thursday that there was no approach for the navy department to confirm whether or not Mr. Majewski served in Afghanistan throughout his time in Qatar. Air Power information confirmed that Mr. Majewski obtained no commendations or medals that might sometimes have been related to fight service in Afghanistan, although she acknowledged that the listing “could also be incomplete or not updated as a result of some require motion on the member’s half to submit or validate.”

The function detailed in Mr. Majewski’s navy information contrasted sharply along with his repeated claims on social media and right-wing podcasts that he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Within the fast aftermath of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan final 12 months, Mr. Majewski chided President Biden over the chaotic exit of forces there, saying in a tweet, “I’d gladly swimsuit up and return to Afghanistan tonight and provides my greatest to save lots of these Individuals who had been deserted.”

He additionally talked about Afghanistan throughout a February 2021 look on a podcast platform that has drawn scrutiny for selling conspiracy theories and misinformation.

“I misplaced my grandmother after I was in Afghanistan, and I didn’t get to see her funeral,” he stated.

The pinnacle of a outstanding veterans’ advocacy group criticized Mr. Majewski in an interview on Wednesday, saying that his embellishment of his navy file dishonored veterans who did expertise fight.

“To me, that’s stolen valor,” stated Don Christensen, a retired Air Power colonel and president of Shield Our Defenders. “I’ve a lot respect for the individuals who had been really getting shot at, affected by I.E.D.s, being wounded and killed. I simply suppose you owe them that you just’re going to be sincere in what you say and that you just’re not going to attempt to equate your service to their service.”

Mr. Christensen, 61, served for 23 years within the Air Power in a noncombat function. He stated there was a transparent distinction between Qatar and Afghanistan or Iraq.

“Qatar, for many of people that had been in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the place you went for R&R,” he stated, noting that the navy stored a “morale tent” in Qatar for service members to name relations.

“They had been saying, oh, my God, that is so unbelievable — the web, someplace to eat,” Mr. Christensen stated of service members coming back from fight to Qatar.

In Could, Mr. Majewski emerged because the shock winner of a Republican Home main election in northern Ohio, the place redistricting has emboldened the celebration because it tries to flip the seat held by longtime Consultant Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat, in November.

Ms. Kaptur, a member of the Home Veterans’ Affairs Committee, stated in an announcement on Wednesday that Mr. Majewski had misled voters.

“The reality issues,” Ms. Kaptur stated. “The concept that anybody, a lot much less a candidate for the US Congress, would mislead voters about their service in fight is an affront to each man and lady who has proudly worn the uniform of our nice nation.”

Mr. Majewski first gained consideration in Ohio in 2020 by turning his garden right into a 19,000-square-foot “Trump 2020” signal.

Throughout his main marketing campaign earlier this 12 months, he ran an advert displaying himself carrying an assault-style rifle and saying: “I’m prepared to do no matter it takes to return this nation again to its former glory. And if I’ve obtained to kick down doorways, nicely, that’s simply what patriots do.”

Days after Mr. Majewski defeated two different Republicans within the main, Mr. Trump praised him throughout a rally in Pennsylvania.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump didn’t reply to a request for remark about Mr. Majewski’s navy file.

Mr. Trump has zeroed in on navy information to assault a sitting member of Congress: Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. He regularly highlights Mr. Blumenthal’s first marketing campaign for the Senate in 2010, when he was accused of misrepresenting his navy service through the Vietnam Warfare.

Mr. Blumenthal was a Marine Corps reservist however didn’t enter fight. He stated on the time that he by no means meant to create the impression that he was a fight veteran and apologized.

Alyce McFadden contributed reporting.