Elon Musk came under fire on Sunday for a now-deleted post on social platform X saying “no one is even trying to assassinate VP Harris” following what the FBI called a second assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Musk spoke hours after the assassination attempt in West Palm Beach, Florida. Reposted X's post In response to a question asking “Why would they want to kill Donald Trump?” the tech billionaire reposted, “And no one is even trying to assassinate Kamala,” adding a thoughtful face emoji.
Musk, who owns X, removed the post from his platform early on Monday and claimed it was a “joke.”
“One lesson I learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh, doesn't mean it's going to be that funny as X's post.” he wrote on Monday, Add later, “We find that jokes are much less funny when they're delivered in plain text, without people knowing the context.”
The post, which has now been deleted, drew heavy criticism from a range of politicians and commentators.
“What happened to this guy?! Can't his loved ones intervene? This is seriously outrageous,” said former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). I wrote to X.
The former congressman later wrote: Elon Musk “He is a contractor for the Department of Defense and the United States Government and is making statements that would get anyone kicked out of the military. He needs to stop making those statements or the government needs to treat him the same as everyone else. Just because you're rich doesn't make you above the law.”
Jonah Goldberg, conservative columnist Musk's post “It's awful and inexcusable”
Authorities said Trump was playing golf at a West Palm Beach golf course on Sunday when Secret Service agents spotted a man with a rifle pointing the gun around the perimeter of the course, with the rifle pointing into bushes about 300 to 500 yards away.
Secret Service agents fired at the man, who then dropped an AK-47 rifle and fled in an SUV. A witness took photos of his vehicle and he was eventually arrested while traveling on Interstate 95 from Palm Beach County to Martin County, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
The Trump campaign and the Secret Service confirmed the former president was safe, about an hour after Secret Service agents opened fire on the suspect.
The incident came just nine weeks after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, striking the former president in the ear and killing one attendee.
Musk endorsed Trump's reelection shortly after the July shooting and has since launched a series of attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Harris.
The tech leader has faced scrutiny over various posts and reposts on X in recent months, including when he was involved in a post about an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory in November last year.
