Republican candidate backtracks after appearing to hint that Second Amendment supporters could assassinate Clinton; explains that he was asking supporters to use the power of their votes
Donald Trump
Washington: Igniting yet another controversy, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that gun rights activists could stop Hillary Clinton from winning the polls and picking new Supreme Court judges, a remark strongly criticised as a threat of violence against his Democratic rival.
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Risky business: Donald Trump’s comments about Hillary Clinton have drawn critique from all quarters
"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Though the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know," Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina yesterday. The Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear firearms.
Hillary Clinton
The Clinton campaign decried the remark in a statement and said, "This is simple — what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
Trump, however, insisted that he was asking his supporters to use the power of their vot to stop Clinton. "This is a political movement. A powerful movement, the Second Amendment. And, there can be no other interpretation. Give me a break," Trump said.
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director, said, "If someone else had said that outside the hall, he’d be in the back of a police wagon with the Secret Service questioning him."
Senator Chris Murphy alleged that Trump had given an "assassination threat". "Don’t treat this as a political misstep. It’s an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy and crisis," Murphy said.