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WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- A spokesman for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump disavowed comments made by his former butler calling for President Barack Obama to be killed. The butler, Anthony Senecal, was the subject of a lengthy profile piece in The New York Times earlier this year and worked at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., for more than 60 years, though he has since retired.
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The comments, which Senecal posted on his Facebook page, were first reported by the liberal outlet Mother Jones. The posts are only seen by Senecal's friends on the site, but Mother Jones confirmed they are his words.
In them, Senecal repeatedly refers to Obama with racist epithets and calls for him to be hanged from the White House portico.
Trump's communications director, Hope Hicks, told Politico the comments, which have drawn the interest of the Secret Service, should not be a reflection on the candidate.
"Tony Senecal has not worked at Mar-a-Lago for years, but nevertheless we totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him regarding the president," Hicks said.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Secret Service said the comments were known to agents and would be investigated.
Senecal told Mother Jones he does not believe Obama is an American citizen, a fact Trump also questioned as a leader of the widely discredited "birther" movement during Obama's first term. Trump led public questioning of whether Obama was actually born in Hawaii, as his birth certificate and published birth announcements from the time state, or if he was born in Kenya, where his father was born.
