Fresno State professor apologizes after calling for the execution of President Donald Trump

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Lars Maischak, a history professor at Fresno State, has issued an apology after sending a tweet that appeared to call for and condone the execution of President Donald Trump.

On late Wednesday morning, the account he had been tweeting from had been deleted. It was unclear who, or why, the account was removed.

Maischak sent the following email to Action News reporter Cory James late Wednesday morning:

Statement Regarding My Tweets on U.S. Politics

Lars Maischak
Apr 12 2017

I apologize for the tone and content of my statements made on twitter.

I ask forgiveness of those who felt threatened or offended by them.

It was never my intent to harm anyone, nor to encourage others to harm anyone.

My statements each represent the end point of a dark train of thought triggered by my despair over the actions of the present U.S. government.
That is what I meant by calling them "dark predictions."
It felt cathartic at the time to write them down.

With 28 followers on twitter at the time, I never expected them to be read by anyone but a close circle of acquaintances who would know to place them in their context.
To treat twitter as of no more consequence than a journal was a poor decision.

I have deleted my twitter account, to preclude the possibility that anyone reading my statements in the future would take them as encouragement to act violently or unlawfully.

In this spirit, I am prepared to take full responsibility for my statements.