Dan Rather, former anchor of CBS Evening News, ripped Donald Trump for comments that many say hinted at violence against Hillary Clinton. He called it a "direct threat."
Speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump was discussing the implications of Clinton appointing federal judges to lifetime positions, saying "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know."
Rather responded to the comment in a Facebook post that has gone viral.
"By any objective analysis, this is a new low and unprecedented in the history of American presidential politics," Rather wrote. "This is no longer about policy, civility, decency or even temperament. This is a direct threat of violence against a political rival."
In a statement released Tuesday, Trump's campaign denied that the comment was a reference to violence and called the media dishonest.
"It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller.
Rather preemptively rejected attempts to "gloss over" the remarks, writing "once the words are out there they cannot be taken back. That is what inciting violence means."
He called on journalists to "explain how grave and unprecedented this is."
"Many have tried to do a side-shuffle and issue statements saying they strongly disagree with his rhetoric but still support the candidate. That is becoming woefully insufficient. The rhetoric is the candidate," Rather wrote. "This cannot be treated as just another outrageous moment in the campaign."
Some have called for a Secret Service investigation into Trump's remarks, and a former secret service official told Time magazine that Trump "is coming pretty close to the edge here."
"If this was some guy off the street and they made that statement, you’d go out and interview them,” the former official told Time. “He’s not gonna act on this. But you don’t know what you’re encouraging other people to do.”
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