TWITTER has apologised after it was revealed the social media company did not adequately address a threatening tweet sent by ‘MAGAbomber’ Cesar Sayoc two weeks before he mailed pipe bombs to high-profile Democrat supports.

Rochelle Ritchie, a political strategist and former Press Secretary for the US Congress, reported the tweet Sayoc sent after her appearance on Fox News — but Twitter said he had not violated any rules.

In the tweet, Sayoc told Ms Ritchie “We have a nice silent Air boat ride for you here” and to “hug your loved ones real close every time you leave home”.

He attached a disturbing image of alligators eating humans.

In the apology, Twitter said, “We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. “We are deeply sorry for that error.

“We are investigating what happened and will continue to work to improve how we handle concerns raised by anyone on Twitter.”

An update. We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The Tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error. — Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) October 27, 2018

The suspected Florida mail bomber is a lost and “sick individual’ who estranged himself from his family but eventually “found a father” in President Trump, his family’s lawyer said.

The New York Post reports that Sayoc was abandoned by his father as a child and “has told his mother that he hates her,” Miami lawyer Ronald Lowy said.

“This was someone lost, he was looking for anything and he found a father in Trump, ”Mr Lowy added to CNN.

Though Sayoc’s dad is Filipino and his mum is Italian, the steroid-abusing bodybuilder claimed to be of Native American descent because he was trying to create an identity — which he found by becoming obsessed with Mr Trump, Mr Lowy said.

“He doesn’t seem to recognise reality. He lives in a fantasy world,” Mr Lowy said to local outlets. “The signs of mental illness are clearly there.”

Mr Lowy, who has represented Sayoc in four prior criminal cases, said the suspected mail bomber had “trouble articulating concepts” and “doesn’t live life in a normal way.”

“You talk to him and he speaks like a 15-year-old, like a child,” Mr Lowy added. “This seems like such a sophisticated crime, I have trouble believing he had the mental capacity to create operating bombs.”

Sayoc’s mum found out her son had been arrested when she woke up from surgery on Friday, Mr Lowy said.

“My heart goes out to these people because you couldn’t imagine a more decent and loving family. They did everything they could,” he said.

It came as former President Barack Obama took multiple swipes at Mr Trump tenure in the White House during a series of fiery speeches.

At an evening rally in Detroit, Mr Obama mocked Mr Trump’s promise to drain the swamp saying that instead, “they have gone to Washington and just plundered away.”

“In Washington they have racked up enough indictments to field a football team,” Mr Obama said. “Nobody in my administration got indicted.”

Earlier, at a rally in Milwaukee, Mr Obama brought up Hillary Clinton’s email server — accusing Republicans of harping on the issue to “scare the heck out of people before every election.”

“In the last election, it was Hillary’s emails. ‘This is terrible’ … ‘This is a national security crisis.’ They didn’t care about emails and you know how you know? Because if they did, they’d be up in arms right now that the Chinese are listening to the president’s iPhone that he leaves in his golf cart,” Mr Obama said, referring to a report about Chinese and Russian spies snooping on the president’s phone calls.

Without ever actually mentioning the president by name, Mr Obama continued his criticism, taking aim at him and other Republicans for just “making stuff up.”

“What we have not seen before in our public life is politicians just blatantly, repeatedly, baldly, shamelessly, lying. Just making stuff up,” Mr Obama said. “Calling up, down. Calling black, white.”

As he urged crowds to vote for Michigan and Wisconsin’s democratic candidates, Mr Obama said that “the character of our country is on the ballot.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and is republished here with permission