Lawmaker e-mails Obama martial law rumor

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NASHVILLE, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A Tennessee lawmaker says he regrets forwarding an e-mail saying President Obama plans to fake an assassination attempt on himself and impose martial law.

State Rep. Kelly Keisling, a first-term Republican forwarded to constituents an online article about a rumor involving a Department of Homeland Security agent who was said to have told a conservative Web site in Canada that a fake attempt on the president's life would be blamed on white supremacists, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported Wednesday. The incident would then be used as a pretext to "enrage black and Hispanic communities driving them to rioting all across the nation."

The article Keisling forwarded -- through an aide using his legislative e-mail account -- went on to say the unrest would be used to "justify the imposition of martial law in major urban cities" and delay the November elections.

Someone on Keisling's distribution list told The Huffington Post about the e-mail and, after the U.S. Web site reported on it Tuesday, Keisling, through a spokesman, conceded the e-mail "should not have been sent out."

"The message was inappropriate for distribution," Keisling's statement said. "I regret the error and pledge to be more cautious regarding the information distributed from my office in the future."