Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) chastised the “conservative media” for focusing on a televised appearance in which she appeared to advocate for the killing of former US President Donald Trump, stressing in a statement on Tuesday that she had not done so.
“It’s unfortunate that the conservative media has taken an instance where I misspoke and misrepresented it as though I advocate for violence–I unequivocally do not,” Plaskett stated. “I wish former President Trump no ill will or harm, only that justice be served in his case, as with every other American who must face penalties for wrongdoing.”
Plaskett claimed he misspoke during an MSNBC piece about the Republican candidate’s alleged misuse of classified documents. “Having Trump not only have the [nuclear] codes, but now having classified information for Americans and being able to put that out and share it in his resort with anyone and everyone who comes through should be terrifying to all Americans and he needs to be shot – stopped,” she had said, without elaborating on whether the latter word was intended as a correction or simply a clarification.
Several right outlets, including Fox News and the New York Post, carried pieces about her alleged gaffe, including social media replies demanding for Plaskett to be investigated by the Secret Service or even charged criminally for threatening the former president.
“I do believe and did intend to say that he must be’stopped,’” the non-voting member of the US Congress added, adding, “I do not advocate for anyone to shoot former President Trump.”
Plaskett demanded that journalist Matt Taibbi be charged with perjury in April, citing a rival journalist’s claim that Taibbi had purposefully substituted the name of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) subsidiary for the Centre for Internet Security (CIS) in order to portray an unconstitutionally cosy relationship between the government agency and Twitter. Taibbi responded that the changeover was a mistake that he immediately remedied – and that ultimately proved to be correct.
Plaskett stated on Tuesday that she does not “encourage or condone political violence or behaviour that is contrary to democratic principles at any time.” That appeared to contradict her closing remarks on MSNBC, in which she stated, “In the Virgin Islands, we’re celebrating our 175th year of emancipation through violent and organised slave rebellion to remove ourselves from chattel slavery.”
Plaskett openly sought (and received) political contributions from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while running for Congress, after winning significant tax concessions for the paedophile in her capacity as general counsel for the islands’ Economic Development Authority.
