CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia Republican lawmaker said Sunday his comments made on Twitter calling for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s public execution weren’t meant to be taken literally.
House of Delegates member Mike Folk said that his tweet Friday over Clinton’s use of a private email system while she served as secretary of state was “hyperbole.”
In the tweet, Folk said the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “should be tried for treason, murder, and crimes against the US Constitution… then hung on the Mall in Washington, DC.”
Folk said in a telephone interview he still wants Clinton to go on trial, but he doesn’t want her executed.
“It could have been said a little bit better,” Folk said. “I regret the tone, and the second part of that tweet.
“The biggest misconception is that for some reason, everybody thinks I made a death threat, which I did not. Clearly it was not that.”
The Justice Department announced earlier this month Clinton would not be prosecuted over her handling of classified information.
Folk said he sent the tweet after watching a video of testimony before a U.S. House committee over the Clinton emails.
“I watch something like that that gets me riled up, I usually just sleep on it and maybe do something the next day,” he said. “I should have done that.”
The state Democratic Party has called for his resignation. Folk said he won’t resign.
Folk is a United Airlines pilot. United Airlines said in a statement that it is investigating the comments. Folk declined comment on whether he’s spoken with the company, saying it was a private matter. He said he hasn’t directly talked with the state GOP party about it.
Folk, who said he’s received his own death threats over the comments, is seeking a third term in the House. The Martinsburg resident ran unopposed in the May Republican primary and will face Democrat and Berkeley County Sheriff Kenny Lemaster in November.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
And my call for you to be strapped down and have boiling hydrochloric acid directly injected into your veins…well, that’s hyperbole, too.
Dumb and ignorant is what it was
Lets have the secret service visit this idiot and decide if it was “hyperbole.” In my view he’s just a street thug like Trump.
In-bleeping-evitable. With twiddle dee dum at the top of the ticket I mean.
ok, ralph. but can we hang him after we’re done with the hyperbole?