GOP Hopeful Blasted for Post Showing Tree Ornaments of Democrats in Nooses

Derrick Evans—a former Republican state lawmaker in West Virginia convicted of participating in the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol—is facing backlash after posting a photo on Christmas Day featuring tree ornaments depicting Democratic leaders hanging from nooses.

Evans has since deleted the post, which included figurines of leaders like President Joe Biden, Representative Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris hanging from the tree from a noose tied around their necks. Figures of former President Barack Obama, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former presidential Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci were also included in the photo.

An ornament of former President Donald Trump hung next to the Democrats and Fauci, although Trump's figurine was not wrapped around the neck like the others. A screenshot of Evans' post was shared to X, formerly Twitter, by progressive news site The Tennessee Holler.

Newsweek reached out to Evans' campaign via email for comment Monday night.

In a separate post to X Monday evening, Evans said that the picture was not of his own Christmas tree and was "NOT a call for violence." The former state lawmaker, who is running as a Republican for U.S. Congress in 2024, pleaded guilty in 2022 to felony civil disorder in the January 6 attack and sentenced to three months in prison.

"Not my tree. Not my ornaments. Not in good taste," Evans wrote Monday. "NOT a call for violence. I shouldn't have used a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus for anything political (good taste or poor taste). Let's go celebrate this time with our families in love and peace."

The picture garnered backlash from several users on X, including Jeff Hoffman, who wrote that Evans' post was "downright disgusting and we should never let someone like this hold office."

"I hope @FBI looks into this man as he is mentally unstable and a threat to those around him," Hoffman added.

"Derrick Evans of West Virginia needs to be locked up in prison AGAIN because he failed to learn his lesson about being a seditious insurrectionist," wrote X user Jon Thomas, who also tagged law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Capitol Police.

Others questioned if the post could complicate Evans' release conditions—the former lawmaker remains under court-supervised release until 2025, according to Department of Justice records.

"The traitor Jonathan 'Derrick' Evans is under supervised release until at least September 2025, yet he continues to make thinly veiled threats to hang people ... Back to jail dips***!?" wrote X user William Coffin.

"Pretty sure Derrick Evans violated his probation by pulling a stunt like this," wrote another user. "He shouldn't have posted it. By the way, he's an insurrectionist and still running for congress in WV. Plead guilty. Conditions of release would make this a violation of probation. it's illegal."

Newsweek also reached out to the Justice Department's press office for comment via email on Monday night.