A PROTESTER has tried to disrupt a Hillary Clinton rally in Des Moines, but was quickly removed from the event.

The woman, protesting on behalf of animal rights, tried to rush onto the stage during a rally at Lincoln High School, but, struggling, was escorted, out by security.

Clinton is visiting the battleground state of Iowa for the first time since her narrow win in the lead-off caucuses.

Earlier, Clinton accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal US Supreme Court justices.

Clinton’s comments added to a growing outcry over Trump’s remarks at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival.

His remarks also fuelled concerns about his ability to stay on track.

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In his remarks on Tuesday Trump said of Clinton: “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks.

“Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,” he continued.

The US Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees a right to keep and bear arms.

“Words matter, my friends,” the former US secretary of state said at the Des Moines, rally.

“And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences.

“Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line,” she said, citing “his casual inciting of violence. Every single one of these incidences shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States.”

Trump insisted in an interview with Fox News that his remarks were a call for political, not physical, action.

“There is tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous,” the New York businessman said.

“And you look at the power they have in terms of votes and that’s what I was referring to, obviously that’s what I was referring to, and everybody knows it.”

But high-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters appeared shaken on Wednesday after a string of Trump missteps.

Some pledged to withhold their endorsement and others backed Clinton.

Some sought for an unprecedented way to oust Trump from the Republican ticket.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, said the party was in “uncharted waters” and called for leaders to look for ways to replace him.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll taken from August 5-8, showed that nearly one-fifth of 396 registered Republicans said they want Trump to drop out of the race for the White House.

Clinton’s campaign moved to bring disenchanted Republicans into the fold by announcing an intraparty outreach effort on behalf of the Democratic nominee.

Clinton’s campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her so far, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Trump’s comment and the resulting backlash occurred as Reuters/Ipsos polling showed some 44 per cent of 1162 registered voters believe Trump should exit the race for the US presidency, and that as of Tuesday, Clinton led Trump by more than 7 percentage points.