After being told the photo was at least eight years old Wednesday afternoon, Henrico Democratic Committee Chairwoman Lizzie Drucker-Basch stood by the posts. In a phone interview, she said she doesn’t “know the history of white supremacy hand symbols.”

“Because I’m not a white supremacist. So it’s not my vernacular,” Drucker-Basch said. “If the speaker happens to know the history of white supremacy hand signals, then that’s fine. Maybe he knows better than I.”

Drucker-Basch apparently reversed course Wednesday evening. In a statement, she said the posts were taken down because the committee does “not wish to put any elected official or candidate in an awkward position.”

The statement denied that the posts linked Cox to the New Zealand attack. The posts showed a photo of Cox next to the alleged mosque attacker and said Cox was making the “same gesture” as a terrorist. Drucker-Basch said she’d like to hear from Cox directly to “allay the fears that there is anything untoward going on in the photograph.”

“It gives him the perfect opportunity to disavow white supremacy and the hate it represents,” Drucker-Basch said.