Volatile Post About Trump May End Lawmaker's Career

Missouri's Maria Chappelle-Nadal said she hoped president would be assassinated
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 18, 2017 8:34 AM CDT
Missouri Lawmaker Told to Resign Over Trump Post
Missouri state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal speaks on the Senate floor in Jefferson City, Mo.   (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

A state lawmaker in Missouri may have derailed her own political career with a jaw-dropping online post about the president. "I hope Trump is assassinated!" state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal wrote during a Facebook exchange on her personal, non-public page Thursday morning. The Democrat preceded it by writing that she'd likely get a visit from the Secret Service, and the Kansas City Star reports that the agency is indeed investigating. It seems that pretty much every top political leader in the state from both parties has called on her to resign, but Chappelle-Nadal says she will not do so. "I am not resigning," she tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "What I said was wrong, but I am not going to stop talking about what led to that, which is the frustration and anger that many people across America are feeling right now."

Among the critics calling for her to step down are Republican Gov. Eric Greitens and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who called the comment "outrageous." Joining in the condemnation is Democratic US Rep. William Lacy Clay, who called Chappelle-Nadal "an embarrassment to our state." Chappelle-Nadal quickly deleted the post, and she now says she didn't mean it. But she adds that she was "very frustrated" over the president's response to the Charlottesville violence, pointing out that the city of Ferguson, which she represents, just marked the three-year anniversary of the Michael Brown shooting. Charlottesville, she said, "is worse than even Ferguson." Asked by KMOX if she would apologize for the assassination post, she said she would apologize when Trump apologized. (More Missouri stories.)

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