After suggesting Tuesday that the "Second Amendment people" could stop Hillary Clinton if she was in a position to pick Supreme Court justices, Donald Trump is making his first attempt at clarifying the remark.
While critics claimed it was a call for violence against his Democratic opponent, Trump told WNCN-TV that the comments were actually just a reference to the "tremendous political power" of people who vehemently support the Second Amendment.
Here's Trump moments ago: "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know." via @ABCPolitics https://t.co/7LQCaG4RNZ
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) August 9, 2016
"If Hillary Clinton gets elected, I think she’s going to decimate the Second Amendment, if not abolish it," Trump said. "And she’ll do that through judges, through the justices of the Supreme Court. But the Second Amendment people have tremendous power because they’re so united."
Trump also praised Second Amendment supporters for being "strong" and "united" — an assertion with which he said the National Rifle Association "agreed."
The trouble first arose when, speaking during a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump said this: "If [Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although, the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know."
In a statement released by the Trump campaign shortly after the controversial comment, the communications adviser Jason Miller blamed the "dishonest media" for its spinning of his remarks, which he said were really about the "great political power" of "Second Amendment people."
Shortly after Trump made the Second Amendment comment, former CIA Director Michael Hayden slammed the billionaire businessman in an interview on CNN, saying if anyone else delivered such remarks, they would be in a "police wagon." Hayden said Trump's comments were "very arresting" and "more than a speed bump."
Michael Hayden on Trump: If someone else said that outside the hall, he’d be in the back of a police wagon https://t.co/4DFkNks2Kj
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) August 9, 2016
"It suggests either a very bad taste reference to political assassination and an attempt at humor or an incredible insensitivity ... to the prevalence of a political assassination inside of American history and how that is a topic that we don't ever come close to, even when we think we're trying to be light-hearted," the ex-CIA leader said.
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