The FBI is probing a man in Des Plaines, Illinois, over a lynching threat posted on Facebook targeting US Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who was in the news for criticizing President Donald Trump's handling of a call to the widow of a soldier, a media report said.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Special Agent Garrett Croon said on Tuesday that FBI agents "are aware of a social media posting generated in Des Plaines, Illinios, and are in contact with local authorities" -- over 54-year-old Tom Keever's Facebook post last week. Keevers claims an anonymous "meme-maker" put words in his mouth and that he and his family are now getting death threats.
The social media post said "need ten good men to help carry out a lynching. Must have own horse and saddle. Rope will be provided."
Screen grabs of the post purportedly made on Keevers' Facebook page went viral over the weekend after they were shared nearly 4,000 times on Twitter.
The alleged post, which appears to have been captured in an iPhone screen grab, targets Wilson, who has been involved in a high-profile fight with the White House since she gave a deeply unflattering account of a phone call President Trump made to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush in Niger.
Another purported screen grab appears to show a post on Keevers' page that states, "This congresswomen (sic) is a disgusting pig. Someone should take their boot to her face."
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Though Keevers claims he was set up by a stranger who created a phony Facebook post attributed to him and then shared it on Twitter, he gave conflicting accounts, at times saying he had never threatened to lynch Wilson and at other times saying he could not remember what he wrote, while insisting the post appeared to him to be a harmless "joke."
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