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GOP candidate withdraws after calling for Daily Beast reporter to be raped

The Wrap

September 7, 2016 at 3:01PM

New Jersey politician Michael Krawitz has withdrawn as a candidate for office after The Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi revealed that he harassed her online, allegedly saying he hopes she gets raped by a Syrian refugee.

Krawitz, a Republican candidate for the West Deptford Township committee, claimed his account was hacked before deciding to withdraw as a GOP candidate.

"Bill. Clinton. Cheated. On. Hillary. :). With. Multiple. Women," Krawitz allegedly wrote on Nuzzi's Facebook page after she posted a story about Donald Trump and Marla Maples. "Hope. You. Get. Raped. By. A. Syrian. Refugee. :)"

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"I should stop here to explain that my Facebook page is a cesspool of trolls and similar lifeforms who respond to everything I say with vitriol," Nuzzi wrote in a Daily Beast post exposing Krawitz.

Nuzzi admits that she's used to it, but wrote "Krawitz was different" and noted that he's been commenting on her stories since December 2014 with "a curiously distinct grammar to convey increasingly angry sentiments."

Krawitz, allegedly, has a weird habit of inserting random periods in between words.

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Krawitz claimed he was hacked, but Nuzzi doesn't buy his explanation. "Krawitz's long history of posting grammatically unsound comments of this nature on my Facebook page makes it difficult to believe his claim," she wrote.

Action News, ABC's Philadelphia affiliate, attempted to track Krawitz down at his home but was unsuccessful. He did not respond to a variety of local papers, either. WNYC was able to reach Krawitz, where he flip flopped on the hacking claim.

"And did you see the post? I said 'maybe she might get raped by a Syrian refugee,'" Krawitz told WNYC.

West Deptford Republican party Chairman Bob Waller told the Courier-Post that Krawitz should get a lawyer if he was really hacked.

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"I hope in my heart he isn't guilty of it," Waller told the Courier-Post. "If you aren't (guilty), do that next step, where you bring in legal counsel, take it to another level and clear your name."

West Deptford's GOP released a statement saying it "cannot find any reasonable reason to believe Mr. Krawitz's account was hacked in any way."

Gloucester County Republican Executive Committee chair Jim Philbin called for Krawitz to resign, and he obliged.

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"I am officially withdrawing as a candidate for the Republican Party in the election on November 8, 2016 for West Deptford Township committee," read the note that was shared on Twitter.

The West Deptford Executive Board also notified The Daily Beast, "We have been informed he is resigning."

Nuzzi thinks that the culture of modern politics contributed to the situation.

"When a former reality TV star can become the Republican nominee while offending and belittling entire genders, races, and religions, why wouldn't a man seeking local office think that encouraging the rape of a woman he hates is OK?" she wrote.