Maine Town Official Visited By Secret Service For Racially Charged Obama Post

In this March 4, 2013 photo, David Marsters poses for a photo in his home in Sabattus, Maine.
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A town official in Maine was visited by the Secret Service Tuesday after posting a message to Facebook referring to President Barack Obama with a racial slur and calling for him to be shot, the Portland Press Herald reported.

David Marsters, a retired Massachusetts police officer and a candidate for selectman in Sabattus, Maine, posted a photo of Obama along with a link to a story about a Republican push to impeach the president at 8:17 p.m. Friday, writing “Shoot the Nigger” above it, according to the newspaper.

Marsters told the Press Herald that after his Facebook post was flagged to local law enforcement by other residents, he was visited by both the Secret Service and the CIA. He said he told the Secret Service agents who questioned him that he didn’t intend to threaten the president. 

Marsters told the Press Herald in a telephone interview that his post was taken out of context.

“I think it’s a lot of hogwash,” he said. “I did not threaten the president. … I might have used the wrong words. … I didn’t say I was going to do it.”

“What I really meant to say is, ‘When are we going to get rid of this (expletive),'” Marsters added. “I should have said, ‘I hope the bastard dies.'”

View the post below, archived by the Lewiston-Auburn Sun-Journal:

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: