Secret Service to investigate Trump butler's calls for death of Obama

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- The Secret Service plans to investigate statements made by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's former butler calling for President Barack Obama's death.

The agency will investigate Anthony Senecal, Trump's butler for 17 years, for several posts he has made on his Facebook page endorsing the birther movement and violent revolution, while accusing Obama of treason and advocating for his death.

"The U.S. Secret Service is aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation," Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback told The Daily Beast of the threats against Obama's life. Threatening the life of a president is a federal crime, with the agency investigating all statements perceived as a potential threat.

Senecal regularly posts messages about Obama, as well as other Democrats and liberals, being guilty of treason, announcing he loves the idea of hanging them as criminals, Mother Jones reported. While some of the posts are public, many were reported to be visible only to his friends on the social network.

"To all my friends on FB, just a short note to you on our pus headed 'president' !!!! This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term !!!!! Instead he still remains in office doing every thing he can to gut the America we all know and love !!!!!" Senecal said in one post that was not publicly viewable.

Senecal has worked at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate since 1959, being retained by the real estate magnate in 1985 when he bought the property. From 1992 to 2009, Senecal was Trump's butler, later being named in-house historian at the estate when he retired.

Senecal told Mother Jones the posts are "all me," explaining he spent so much time posting and discussing threats and concerns about Obama online because he "cannot stand the bastard. I don't believe he's an American citizen. I think he's a fraudulent piece of crap that was brought in by the Democrats."

"We totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him," Hope Hicks, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, told the New York Times.