(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Washington, August 11 (QNA) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of "crossing a line" and "casually inciting violence" over controversial comments he made that some took to be a joke about her being assassinated.
Trump's campaign was reportedly spoken to by the US Secret Service about the incident which happened at a rally on Tuesday in North Carolina.
In her first reaction to the furor, Clinton told a rally in Iowa: "Words matter my friends. If you are running to be president, or you are president, words can have tremendous consequences".
"Recently, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Trump that crossed the line. It shows us that he simply does not have the temperament to be president," she added.
The former secretary of state called out Trump for his recent row with the family of a fallen American Muslim soldier, which the military refers to as a Gold Star family.
"Yesterday we witnessed the latest in the long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that cross the line. His casual cruelty to a Gold Star family, his casual suggestion that more countries should have nuclear weapons. And now his casual inciting of violence," she said.
"Every single one of these incidents shows that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States," she said.
Trump was speaking at a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday when he said Clinton would put liberal justices on the Supreme Court if she wins the presidency.
The Republican nominee suggested her liberal nominations would threaten gun ownership rights when he said: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. But the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know".
Social media users swiftly responded, condemning Trump for appearing to incite violence.
Trump dismissed the claims, tweeting that he was trying to unify gun rights supporters to turn out to vote to defeat Clinton. (QNA)