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The US Secret Service said on Monday it is investigating an Elon Musk tweet that questioned the absence of assassination attempts against President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In an email to The Independent, a Secret Service spokesperson said: ”The US Secret Service is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence.
“We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees.”
They did not elaborate on whether they had contacted Musk – who framed his language as a “joke” in a follow-up tweet.
In the now-deleted tweet, Musk wrote on X: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala," he followed with a raised eyebrow emoji.
The post came hours after a second apparent assassination attempt was made on Trump while he played golf at his Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.
A Secret Service agent intercepted the gunman by opening fire as he fled the scene.
Vice President Harris said she was “deeply disturbed” by the would-be attack on Trump on Sunday and said the government must act to ensure the incident did not lead to further violence.
In The White House statement, she said: “I am thankful that former President Trump is safe.”
However, The White House condoned Musk for his “irresponsible rhetoric” about the attack, said Reuters.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said on Monday: "Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.”
X users reacted to Musk’s tweet and raised concerns over his language’s potential to incite violence against the current president and Democratic presidential candidate.
“Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on 𝕏”, wrote Musk on Monday.
He followed two minutes later with an address to his followers: “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”
Musk – who owns the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – boasts almost 200m followers and has been a frequent commentator of both presidential campaigns ahead of the November US election.
He has been a relentless critic of Harris and an open supporter of Donald Trump who endorsed Musk with the possibility of an appointment in government should he win the next election.
