A Republican candidate for a municipal post in New Jersey told a female journalist that he hopes she gets “raped” in a post on her Facebook page, Politico reported Monday.
West Deptford Township Committee candidate Mike Krawitz made the comments after Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi shared a story on her page about Donald Trump and ex-wife Marla Maples.
“Fuck. You. Olivia,” he wrote. “I. Hope. Somebody. Rapes. You. Today. :)”
“Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :)” read a second post.
Nuzzi shared a screenshot of the posts, which are no longer visible on her Facebook page, on Twitter.
This man who wants me to be raped today was a Republican candidate for office in NJ https://t.co/NgxtjOTaJ9 pic.twitter.com/H31Q5VmXVc
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) September 5, 2016
The Daily Beast reporter told Politico that Krawitz has harassed her on Facebook for a year and issued a statement about his recent comments.
“Most reporters, especially female reporters, deal with harassment from grammatically challenged internet trolls,” Nuzzi wrote. “These trolls aren’t usually legitimized by their local political parties, which makes this case unusual. That said, I believe in freedom of speech and the democratic process, so it’s up to the people of West Deptford and the West Deptford Republican Party to decide if they would like to be represented by a man running on a platform of encouraging the rape of female journalists he stalks online.”
The West Deptford GOP put up a short post on its Facebook page after Nuzzi posted the exchange, claiming that Krawitz’s account was “hacked” and saying they would contact Twitter for more information even though his comments were made on Facebook.
“The executive board of the WDGOP does not condone any repulsive, threatening, or demeaning rhetoric in any social media form or otherwise,” it read, as quoted by Politico. “We are in the process of contacting Twitter for confirmation that someone hacked his account and posted his facebook thumbnail on the hacked twitter entry.”
The entire Facebook page for the group had been taken down as of Tuesday morning, and a post on the West Deptford Republican Club’s website listing Krawitz as a candidate for the township committee also was removed.
Krawitz did not respond to Politico’s request for comment.
