RALEIGH — This weekend, NC Rep. Julie von Haefen (D-Wake) posted a video on social media that included a photo of an individual at a downtown Raleigh protest holding a sign depicting a guillotine with what appeared to be a fake severed head of President Donald Trump hanging from it.

Von Haefen has since apologized for the inappropriate image and edited it out of a video that she posted from a series of images in a video on her Instagram account, taken from the “No Kings” protest in Raleigh on June 14.

“On the same weekend that a gunman in Minnesota targeted state lawmakers in an act of political violence, and after two attempted assassinations of President Trump within the past year, Representative von Haefen shared an image of a ‘protest sign’ that glorifies violence against her political opponents- including President Donald Trump,” Speaker Destin Hall said.

He continued, “Her disgraceful behavior fails to meet the standards expected from House members and sets a dangerous precedent in an already volatile political climate. I am examining next steps with our legislative attorneys to ensure this behavior does not continue.”

Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, von Haefen issued a statement on her official Facebook page, which addressed the deletion of the image as “inappropriate.”

“Yesterday, I posted a video on social media containing crowd photos from the No Kings protest in Raleigh. One of the images of a protestor holding a sign was inappropriate, and I later edited the video to remove the photo,” Von Haefen posted.

“Let me be clear: I condemn political violence in all forms. My focus remains on bringing people together and fighting for the values that matter to North Carolinians. Like so many, I was horrified by the violence in Minnesota. There is no place for that kind of extremism in our democracy, no matter the target, no matter the party.”

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