McSally, staff asked to break up maskless photo op inside Capitol

Staff members at the Office of the Sergeant at Arms asked Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) to break up a photo she was taking with her staff, according to a photo and tweet from a CNN reporter.

The photo shows McSally and more than a dozen other people on a Capitol stairway. None of them are wearing masks.

CNN reporter Ali Zaslav tweeted the photo. The group had apparently taken to the staircase after the Arizona senator gave her last speech in the Senate.

In the photo, McSally and her staff can be seen standing shoulder to shoulder with no masks on.

Zaslav tweeted, “Staff at the Sergeant at Arms office stepped in and requested they break it up and put on masks.”

Update: Staff at the Sergeant at Arms office stepped in and requested they break it up and put on masks https://t.co/iFBTf1dsDO

— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) November 18, 2020

The Hill has reached out to McSally’s office.

Tensions over masks in the Senate have been rising this week.

On Monday evening, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called on Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) to wear a mask as he presided over the Senate. Sullivan had taken his mask off to speak and pointedly told Brown he did not need to take his instruction.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) criticized Brown on social media, calling him an “ass.”

McSally conceded defeat to Democratic challenger Mark Kelly last week.