Ohio GOPer Sorry For Saying Hillary Clinton ‘Should Be Hanging From A Tree’

A Republican Ohio official grudgingly apologized for saying this week that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton “should be hanging from a tree.”

Licking County Commissioner Duane Flowers made the untoward remark during what he thought was an off-the-record conversation during a public board of commissioners meeting on Tuesday.

Upset over the criticism of Melania Trump’s plagiarized speech at the Republican National Convention, Flowers suggested that Clinton’s actions as secretary of state were worthy of a hanging, according to a Newark Advocate reporter present at the meeting.

He apologized that day, saying he was “caught up in an emotional moment.”

“She just totally makes my mind want to pop out of my ears. I really can’t believe she’s running for president,” Flowers told the Advocate.

“I’m convinced 30 years ago, she’d been locked up for life,” he added. “I truly believe she has become above the law. That’s how far our system has fallen.”

After Flowers’ comments drew national attention, he formally apologized with a prepared statement that he read aloud in the commissioners’ meeting room on Thursday.

“For those of you offended, I truly and sincerely apologize,” he said, according to the Advocate. “I’m embarrassed. All I can do is ask your forgiveness.”

Flowers said that he had learned his lesson and “will never again have a casual conversation with a reporter.”

Calls for Clinton to be dead or in jail were heard frequently at the convention in Cleveland this week. “Lock her up!” was the crowd’s favorite chant, urged on by official RNC speakers, and the Secret Service is investigating the co-chair of Trump’s veterans group, who also served as a delegate to the campaign, for refusing to apologize for saying Clinton should face “the firing squad” for “treason.”