A U.S. Secret Service officials says the agency has spoken to the Donald Trump campaign about Second Amendment comments the GOP nominee for president made yesterday that rival Hillary Clinton called a “casual inciting of violence.”
“There has been more than one conversation” the official told CNN on Wednesday.
The network also reports the campaign told USSS that Donald Trump “did not intend to incite violence.”
The claim was refuted later in the day by a federal official who told Reuters that the Secret Service had not conducted any formal conversations with the campaign concerning Trump’s comment.
The Republican presidential candidate was speaking at a North Carolina rally on Tuesday, reminding the crowd that if elected Clinton would get to appoint federal judges to lifetime positions on the Supreme Court.
“If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks,” Trump said. “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
The comment quickly made headlines, as it appeared to suggest Trump was encouraging violence against his Democratic rival.
But Trump insisted that was not his intent.
“This is a political movement. This is a strong political movement, the Second Amendment,” Trump said to Fox News host Sean Hannity. “And there can be no other interpretation … I mean, give me a break.”
The comments sparked a national outcry, just another in a long list of controversies that have surrounded the Trump campaign in recent days.
On Tuesday, a former Secret Service official told Time he would ask a U.S. attorney to see if Trump broke any laws with the comment.
“Look, this guy is coming pretty close to the edge here,” the official said.