The US Secret Service (USSS) officials have spoken to the Donald Trump campaign regarding his controversial comments against Hillary Clinton when he said gun rights supporters could stop her from winning the White House bid.
A US Secret Service official told CNN that the USSS has spoken to the Trump campaign regarding his Second Amendment comments.
"There has been more than one conversation" on the topic, the official said. But it's unclear at what level in the campaign structure the conversations occurred," the network reported today.
The USSS is one of America's oldest federal law enforcement bodies and responsible for the security of the president, along with the two presidential candidates.
The campaign told the USSS that the Republican presidential nominee did not intend to incite violence against the Democratic rival, according to the official.
But the 70-year-old real estate billionaire dismissed the CNN report.
"No such meeting or conversation ever happened," Trump tweeted.
The controversy erupted on Tuesday when Trump said at a rally that Second Amendment defenders might be able to stop Clinton from appointing justices to the Supreme Court who could weaken gun rights.
"Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," Trump said. "But I tell you what, that will be a horrible day, if Hillary gets to put her judges in, right now we're tied."
The Secret Service's communications director Cathy Milhoan has not confirmed the conversations between the campaign and the Secret Service, but said in a statement on Tuesday said that "the U.S. Secret Service is aware of Mr. Trump's comments."
Under pressure, Trump said that he was simply trying to unify gun owners against Clinton in the voting booth.
"This is a political movement. This is a strong political movement, the Second Amendment," Trump told Fox News.
"And there can be no other interpretation ... I mean, give me a break."
Clinton responded yesterday to Trump's suggestion at an Iowa rally, saying, "words matter."
"Words matter my friends, and if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences," Clinton said. "Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that cross the line."
Trump's supporters yesterday attempted to quell the controversy, saying either that Trump was joking or that Democrats and the media were spinning it into something bigger than it was. But many interpreted Trump's comments as a threat to rival Clinton.
Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, said the billionaire businessman was trying to unite Second Amendment supporters to turn out to defeat Clinton.
