A Missouri lawmaker apologized for having posted a comment on Facebook saying that she hoped that someone would assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump. Senator Maria Chapelle-Nadal, a black Democrat, said that she did not have any intention of harming the president and sincerely apologized to the public and to the president's family. However, she also made it clear that she did not intend on resigning from her post.
What the Senator posted on Facebook
Chapelle-Nadal wrote in the Facebook post recently that she hoped that President Trump is assassinated.
This led to widespread backlash from the community and others who saw her post. At first, she maintained that her post was improper, but that this post was just an excuse being used by the Governor and other office holders to oust her from her position.
However, her comment on the social networking site led to a Secret Service investigation. During the investigation, Chapelle-Nadal claimed that she was being fully cooperative with the officers and also reported that she had no intention of harming the President or hiring someone else to harm him in some way. During Sunday's apology, she claimed that she was admitting her mistake in posting such a message on her Facebook account, but that her judge and jury would be Jesus Christ and no one else.
Chapelle-Nadal also deleted the inappropriate post from her Facebook account, before hosting the public apology at a church in Ferguson. She also asked media crew to refrain from sharing the location of the conference as she had received several death threats regarding her post on Facebook. The senator said that her post was actually an angry response to Donald Trump's speech where the president claimed that both sides share the blame for the recent white supremacist attacks in Charlottesville.
What other state officials feel about Chapelle-Nadal
Governor Eric Greitens and Lt. Gov. Mike Parson both feel that the senator should be removed from her post in the. Parson even went on to say that he would pursue other senators to vote against Chapelle-Nadal and oust her from office if she does not resign on her own. The lawmakers will next convene on September 13 to discuss veto overrides and Parson wants Chapelle-Nadal to be removed during this meeting.
However, removing a senator would not be that easy. The Missouri Constitution states that a senator can only be removed from office if two-thirds of the elected assembly vote against that individual. This has not occurred in decades and is most likely to not take place this time as well, meaning that Chapelle-Nadal will remain in her position.
