Donald Trump has previously boasted that he "could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody" and not lose voters. | Getty Trump goes off-script on Clinton, Iran

In a rally address that veered off frequently from prepared remarks, Donald Trump suggested Friday that if Hillary Clinton were to shoot somebody “right smack in the middle of the heart,” the former secretary of state would not face charges.

“Because she is being so protected, she could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching right smack in the middle of the heart and she wouldn’t be prosecuted, OK?” the Republican presidential nominee said in Pensacola, Florida, imitating a gun with his hand.


“That’s what happened. That’s what’s happened to our country,” Trump said. “I never thought I’d see the day where this has happened to our country.”

During the primary season, Trump had boasted at an Iowa rally that, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."

Trump's campaign leadership, now in its third iteration, has fought to keep their candidate on message and to stick to teleprompters during speeches, with varying degrees of success.

In another diversion Friday, Trump also told the military friendly crowd that Iranians who make inappropriate gestures at the U.S., “will be shot out of the water.”

“As we expand our navy toward the goal of 350 ships, which is about 100 more than we have right now, we will also procure additional modern destroyers that are designed to handle the missile defense mission in coming years,” he said.

“And by the way, with Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures at our people and that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water,” Trump added, prompting “U.S.A.” chants from his audience.

Trump’s campaign has been under heavy criticism in the past days for embracing President Vladimir Putin in an interview broadcast on RT America, and criticizing U.S. foreign policy. Russia has shared interests with Iran in the Middle East, including in Syria.