Trump Assassination Post Puts Defiant State Senator On Path For Removal

You can’t publicly offer up your hopes for the assassination of President Trump and go along your merry way if you are a state senator in Missouri. One state senator, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, may be learning this the hard way today. Did she know about a provision set forth in the Missouri Constitution that allows for the removal of a senator after such behavior?

Not only are the colleagues of Chappelle-Nadal taking notice of a Facebook post she created about hoping someone would assassinate Trump, but so are the members of the Secret Service. On Thursday Chappelle-Nadal posted on her Facebook page that she hoped someone would assassinate the president.

You might surmise that this senator realized the error of her ways after she deleted the post that conjured major uproar, but that doesn’t look like the case. With her colleagues calling for her to step down, Chappelle-Nadal is defiant in her refusals to both offer up an apology to President Trump and to step down as her colleagues are requesting.

She may have no choice in the matter as the lieutenant governor of Missouri is taking steps to have her removed from office. Lieutenant Governor Mike Parson, who is also the president of the state senate of Missouri cited Article III, Section 18 of the Missouri Constitution, which gives them the right to remove Chappelle-Nadal “for calling for the assassination of the President of the United States,” reports Fox News.

A report from CNN News indicates that the Secret Service is investigating posts by the Missouri lawmaker today. A spokesperson for the St. Louis Field Office of the Secret Service, Cathy Milhoan, said, “The Secret Service investigates all threats against the President, Vice President, and other protectees, whether they be direct, implied or comments in passing.”

Parson isn’t the only one wanting to see Chappelle-Nadal gone from her seat in the Senate after that Facebook wish she offered to her followers. Parson said, “Many Republicans and Democrats have asked for her resignation. For her to continue to serve as a Missouri State Senator is totally unacceptable. There are ways to remove her from office but I think she should take responsibility for her actions and resign.”

Parson also said that as the lieutenant governor, he has “the ability and the right” to call on the rest of the senate body to remove her from office. This is his plan if Chapelle-Nadal still refuses to resign. Wanting Chapelle-Nadal to resign goes even a bit higher in rank, as the governor of Missouri also took to social media saying he believes she should step down. The governor’s post from Facebook is seen below.

https://www.facebook.com/EricGreitens/posts/10155653740924747

When Chappelle-Nadal was asked about her prospects of stepping down, she was not only defiant, but some might say she sounded as if she was on the cusp of pulling some of her colleagues down with her. She said she’s not going anywhere and then she offered up the following.

“No. Absolutely not. I told people if there are legislators cheating on their wives and smoking marijuana in their offices and they’re not being asked to resign, but I am for a mistake I made and owned up to.”

While Chappelle-Nadal has back peddled by saying she put a post up on her Facebook page that she should not have. She explained that when she posted what she did about Trump she was “frustrated” and “things have got to change.” It is not clear how Chappelle-Nadal sees fixing the violence in this nation by wishing someone would take out the president.

#USSS investigating after Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal says she hopes the #POTUS is assassinated. https://t.co/NgZ5AC80aB

— Eric Sean Clay (@EricSClay) August 18, 2017

According to KMOV, an affiliate of CNN News, Chappelle-Nadal said in a statement to them that she doesn’t want to see anyone assassinated, but she would like to see Trump impeached. These are two very different words meaning two very different things. If she had wished Trump an impeachment instead of an assassination, she would not be headline news today with her career in jeopardy.

She also said it was on her personal page, but then again said she shouldn’t have put it there in the first place. Even those who do not support Trump are offended by this post for its violent nature and they see this as a threat against the office of the president.

“I will not sit idly by and let this kind of behavior transpire in our state, especially from members of our government. As a veteran of the armed forces, I was personally offended that a person elected to represent Missourians would call for the assassination of our Commander-in-Chief,” Parson said.

[Featured Image by Jeff Roberson/AP Images]