Anti-Trump GOP elector reportedly lied about being a 9/11 first responder

Chris Suprun, a Republican elector from Texas who has garnered a lot of attention for vowing not to vote for President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 19, has long claimed to be a first responder during the 9/11 attacks. But a new report suggest that might not be true.

For years, Suprun has operated a charity commemorating the attack and, in 2015, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch for an Arizona Diamondbacks game.

The 42-year-old firefighter has portrayed himself as one of the first responders to the scene after the third plane flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. And in a highly-cited New York Times column, Suprun vowed not to vote for Trump because he "shows daily he is not qualified for the office."

"Fifteen years ago, as a firefighter, I was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks against our nation," he wrote. "That attack and this year’s election may seem unrelated, but for me the relationship becomes clearer every day."

But, according to a WFAA-TV report, his résumé might be fabricated, at least in part.

"He claimed to be a first responder with the Manassas Park [Virginia] Fire Department on Sept. 11, 2001, and personally told us stories, 'I was fighting fire that day at the Pentagon,’" said a first responder who knows Suprun and spoke to the news outlet on condition of anonymity. "No, I was on a medic unit that day at the Pentagon and you make a phone call to Manassas Park and you find out that he wasn't even employed there until October 2001."

WFAA followed up with officials at the City of Manassas Park, who confirmed that Suprun was hired one month after the terror attack, on Oct. 10, 2001. A fire chief  for the Manassas Park Fire Department told the outlet that they did not even respond to the 9/11 Pentagon attack.

And according to WFAA, there are several other problems with Suprun's résumé:

It shows he was, at the time this story aired on WFAA, a paramedic with Air Methods air ambulance service. But Christina Brodsly, a spokeswoman for that company, said he is not an employee there.

Suprun also claims to currently be a paramedic with Freedom EMS in Dallas. But records from the Texas Department of State Health Services indicate there's no such company. A firm with that name used to exist in Houston, but it went out of business in 2008, according to DSHS.

Turns out, federal court records show Suprun has spent the last five years in bankruptcy while his résumé says he was working. He even collected unemployment during part of it, court records show. Suprun was just released from bankruptcy supervision this month.

In a response posted to Reddit Monday afternoon, Suprun reportedly said he worked as a firefighter in Dale City, Virginia, during the 9/11 attacks. However, there is no listing for a job at Dale City on his public LinkedIn account.

And on a lengthy 7-page paper résumé Suprun handed out recently, according to WFAA, there is no listing for a firefighter job at Dale City. Rather, his vitae shows he was employed with the MPFD in September 2011.