UPDATE (Thursday, Aug. 4): How the “I’m Ready for Hillary” hangman tweet happened

UPDATE 2 (Thursday, Aug. 4): Inland GOP official loses state job over hangman ‘I’m Ready for Hillary’ tweet

Two tweets from the official Twitter account for the Riverside County Republican Party featured illustrations of a hangman holding a noose with the words, “I’m Ready for Hillary,” below.

The portrait of the masked hangman features gallows with two other empty nooses in the background. The hangman wears an axe at this side and blood is visible on his shirt and apron.

The tweets, dated Wednesday, Aug. 3, were sent in response to another Twitter user who tweeted a picture of a man holding a “Republicans for Hillary” sign. The user asked where the signs could be obtained.

Two pictures of the hangman were sent. The second included the caption: “sorry they never arrived but this is pretty popular.”

The tweets had been removed from the GOP account as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.

In an emailed statement late Wednesday afternoon, Riverside County GOP Chairman Scott Mann said: “I was made aware of derogatory Tweet this afternoon toward Secretary Clinton when the Press-Enterprise called me for comment. I was horrified and had the Tweet taken down immediately. While some may think it was political satire, it clearly has no place in American political dialogue.

“As Chairman of the Republican Party of Riverside County, I apologize to everyone and anyone who was offended by it. I have taken steps to ensure that the individual who posted the Tweet no longer has access and I can assure you the person responsible will be held accountable.”

Earlier he had said in an email: “That meme is nothing more than political satire. It simply expresses how Ms. Clinton seemingly has gotten away with every scandal and political flip-flop in her public life – from classified e-mail and Benghazi to her changing positions on health care, TPP, NAFTA, gay marriage, etc.”

“We will extend benefit of the doubt if even one person was genuinely offended and remove the tweet. Beyond that, we trust the discernment of citizens to view it for what it is – political satire.”

In a telephone interview, Mann said only he and another volunteer have access to the Twitter account and editorial discretion to tweet from it. He said he didn’t send out the tweet and declined to name the volunteer.

Mann said there are no plans to change how the party’s Twitter account is handled. “This is the only thing that’s reared its head in terms of any feedback from anybody,” he said.

Riverside County Democratic Party Chairman Howard Katz was not amused.

“(The picture) didn’t say political satire. It appears to be a furthering of the violence that has been projected outward by (Donald) Trump,” he said. “They should know better than that.

“It appears to me that if anything happens to (Clinton) based on this kind of stuff that the Republican Party is printing or putting forth on social media, they should be held accountable for it to the full extent of the law,” Katz added. “That is not political satire. That is a threat. I take that as a physical threat.”

GOP anger with Clinton has been a constant on the campaign trail. Shouts of “Lock her up!” have echoed at the Republican National Convention and Trump campaign stops, and last month, a military veteran and Trump supporter said Clinton should be executed for treason.

It’s not the first time an Inland Republican group has faced criticism over an illustration. In 2008, the newsletter of the Chaffey Republican Women, Federated contained a caricature of Barack Obama using a food stamp. The fake $10 food stamp showed Obama’s head on a donkey’s body with a bucket of KFC chicken, a watermelon slice, barbecued ribs and a pitcher of Kool-Aid.

The club’s president at the time said she didn’t know those food items were used to degrade African Americans. She said she took the cartoon from an e-mail and her intent was to warn people that Obama would redistribute wealth.