Updated

A Florida police officer quit after admitting he told colleagues that he would volunteer to assassinate President Obama.

Sam Koivisto, of the Jacksonville Police Department, told the Florida Times-Union on Wednesday that his comments had been blown out of proportion and that he had planned to retire in five months anyway.

The 57-year-old retired earlier this month while facing an internal investigation into his comments to other officers after the election. He told them that if an order came to kill Obama, he "wouldn't mind being the guy."

"If an order was given to kill Obama or something, then I wouldn’t mind being the guy," he told colleagues, according to the newspaper.

When questioned by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office integrity unit, he said he also didn't care if a nuclear explosion killed everyone in the Northeastern U.S because they supported Obama. He told the investigators his comments were hyperbole and not actual threats.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.