MLB looking into umpire's tweet calling for 'CIVAL WAR' if Trump is impeached
Commissioner Rob Manfred says Major League Baseball will look into a politicized tweet by umpire Rob Drake that referenced a rifle and criticism of US president Donald Trump.
Drake posted this message to Twitter on Tuesday: “I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL (sic) WAR!!! #MAGA2020”
The tweet, which was deleted soon after it was posted, followed one earlier in the night regarding the US House of Representatives’ impeachment proceedings with Trump, according to ESPN.
The other tweet read: “You can’t do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital (sic) Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?”
Manfred spoke at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night before Game 2 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.
Drake, 50, has worked spring training or regular-season major league games since 1999 and joined the big league staff in 2010.
The umpire, who made his account private on Wednesday before deactivating it completely soon after, was not assigned to work the postseason this year.
Joe West, the president of the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, declined comment when reached by phone by ESPN.
Political tensions over the intensifying impeachment inquiry reached fever pitch on Wednesday as Republicans “stormed” a closed-door committee hearing on Capitol Hill disrupting a crucial deposition related to the Ukraine controversy, only one day after devastating testimony from a key diplomat.