Hillary Clinton denounced Donald Trump’s suggestion that gun owners could stop her from appointing liberal supreme court justices, pointing to it as the latest evidence of behavior by him unbefitting of a presidential candidate.

Donald Trump hints at assassination of Hillary Clinton by gun rights supporters Read more

At a rally in Iowa on Wednesday, Clinton said the remark, which she called a “casual inciting of violence”, offered further proof that Trump does not have the temperament to be president.

“Words matter, my friends,” Clinton said, drawing cheers from the crowd. “And if you are running to be president or if you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences.”

After a volatile week on the campaign trail, the Republican nominee hurled himself once again into the center of controversy, and the backlash has been swift and fierce from Democrats, gun control advocates, members of the media and even some Republicans.

The remarks came during a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, as Trump told a crowd that if Clinton is elected she would have the power to appoint liberal supreme court justices.

“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. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”



Trump and his campaign denied claims that he had advocated for violence against his political opponent. Rather, he said he was urging gun rights advocates to mobilize against Clinton.



In contrast to Clinton’s emphasis of her opponent’s remarks, Trump barely mentioned the second amendment in his speech in Virginia on Wednesday, referencing it only once as he spoke at a closed event.



“We have to protect our second amendment, which is under siege,” he said to cheers.

While also avoiding mentions of gun rights supporters, Trump focused instead on the state of manufacturing in the US and regulations on the coal industry. He told the crowd – many of whom worked in the coal industry and held “Trump Digs Coal” signs – that he would “put the miners back to work”.



Trump also lamented the recent federal court ruling that struck down North Carolina voting laws that the court determined targeted African Americans “with almost surgical precision”. He suggested that without voter ID laws, the chances of a “rigged system” could increase.



“You know, I’ve been talking about the rigged system for a long time,” he said. “I’m sure none of those folks would be voting 10 times during one day, right?”

Trump once again addressed Clinton’s emails to chants of “Lock her up!” from the crowd. Clinton used a private email server while serving as secretary of state, prompting an FBI investigation into Clinton’s email practices. Clinton’s team deleted 30,000 emails that they had deemed personal, a number Trump invoked repeatedly.



“Remember she said ... it was for the wedding, the wedding of Chelsea, and it was for yoga classes. 33,000 emails. That’s a lot of yoga!” he said, to laughs from the crowd.

Meanwhile, Clinton emphasized Trump as increasingly volatile and dangerous man who continually crosses the line in Iowa, pointing to his disparaging remarks about the parents of a US Muslim soldier who died in combat in Iraq and his radical stance on nuclear proliferation.

Clinton’s rally in Iowa marks her first return to the state since her narrow victory against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic caucuses in February. Opinion polls show the nominees in a dead heat, with Clinton maintaining less than a one-point lead, according to the RealClearPolitics average of surveys from the state.

The rally was briefly interrupted when a team of secret service agents surrounded Clinton on stage as a protester rushed towards her. The activist was taken down by agents and escorted from the event.

After the rally, Rita Schneider, a retired teacher in Des Moines, said she immediately panicked when she saw a protester rush toward the stage.

“It really scared me, all that commotion on stage,” Schneider said. “After what Trump said yesterday I just thought, ‘Oh no! What if it is some crazy person trying to shoot her?’”