A Marine Corps veteran and co-chair of Donald Trump's national veterans coalition is under investigation by the Secret Service after saying Hillary Clinton should be "shot for treason."
Al Baldasaro, a state representative in New Hampshire and delegate for the Republican presidential nominee, first made the remarks on Tuesday during a radio interview on WRKO in Boston.
"I'm a veteran who went to Desert Shield, Desert Storm. I'm also a father who sent a son to war, to Iraq, as a Marine Corps helicopter avionics technician. Hillary Clinton, to me, is the Jane Fonda of the Vietnam," Baldasaro said.
He was referring to the actress' 1972 visit to Hanoi, during which she was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun -- a trip that stirred many Americans to call her a traitor and earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane."
Clinton "is a disgrace for the lies that she told those mothers about their children that got killed over there in Benghazi," Baldasaro said.
The 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi in which four Americans were killed has been a recurring topic this week at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Patricia Smith, the mother of one of the Americans slain in the attack, on Monday spoke at the event and said she blamed the presumptive Democratic nominee for the tragedy that resulted in the death of her son Sean Smith, a U.S. foreign service information management officer; Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens; and the others.
Referring to Clinton, Baldasaro said, "She dropped the ball on over 400 emails requesting back-up security. Something's wrong there. I wish they made the documents public. ... This whole thing disgusts me. Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason."
Baldasaro, whose LinkedIn page states he retired as a first sergeant after serving 22 years in the Marine Corps, went on to refer to Marine Maj. Jason Brezler, a reservist and member of the New York City Fire Department, whose military career hangs in the balance of a legal case stemming from improperly handling classified material.
In 2012, Brezler sent colleagues an email from a Yahoo account containing a classified profile of an Afghan policeman whom the Marines believed was corrupt and sexually abusing young Afghan boys.
Baldasaro was angry at what he said was a different level of legal scrutiny applied in the Marine's case. "They're trying to kick him out of the military," he said.
Baldasaro hasn't apologized for his remarks about Clinton. Indeed, on Wednesday he repeated his calls for her to be executed during an interview with WMUR in New Hampshire.
"I'm a military man first, and anyone who takes information about our CIA or Secret Service and people at our embassy and puts it out on a server where anyone can grab it, putting Americans in danger to be killed, should be held accountable," he said, according to The New York Times. "As far as I’m concerned, it is treason and the penalty for treason is the firing squad -- or maybe it’s the electric chair now."
Baldasaro in May defended the Trump campaign for having distributed $5.6 million to veterans charities. The money was raised during a fundraiser in January, though many large charitable donations had only been distributed in the week before the press conference detailing the gifts, the Associated Press reported.
Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said the agency is aware of comments made by New Hampshire state Rep. Al Baldasaro and that it "will conduct the appropriate investigation," according to the newswire.
A spokeswoman for Trump's campaign, Hope Hicks, told reporters that Baldasaro doesn't speak for the campaign, the AP reported. She didn't say whether he would continue to serve as a veterans adviser to the candidate.
-- Richard Sisk and Hope Hodge Seck contributed to this report.
-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
