--- title: Hillary Clinton Campaign Condemns Donald Trump's Remark description: Hillary Clinton's campaign strongly condemned Donald Trump Tuesday over an aside at a rally. canonical: https://time.com/4445467/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-second-amendment-judges/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-09T20:21:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:28:16.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Clinton Harshly Condemns Trump's 'Second Amendment' Remark og:description: "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is." og:url: https://time.com/4445467/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-second-amendment-judges/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7817ee38dcf15181/6988a1bf2dce0141bf9ea3da/donald-trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Clinton Harshly Condemns Trump's 'Second Amendment' Remark twitter:description: "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7817ee38dcf15181/6988a1bf2dce0141bf9ea3da/donald-trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Campaign Condemns Donald Trump's 'Second Amendment' Remark at Rally > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:28 AM UTCPublished: Aug 9, 2016 8:21 PM UTC  Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C., on Aug. 9, 2016. Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C., on Aug. 9, 2016. Erich Thayer—Reuters by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:28 AM UTCPublished: Aug 9, 2016 8:21 PM UTC Hillary Clinton’s campaign strongly condemned Donald Trump Tuesday over an aside at a rally that they said suggested that the Democratic nominee or federal judges should be shot. The remark came at an afternoon rally in Wilmington, N.C., when Trump was talking about how if elected Clinton would get to appoint federal judges to lifetime positions, including a vacant seat on the Supreme Court. “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,” Trump said. Several Clinton staffers immediately responded on Twitter, while campaign manager Robby Mook harshly condemned the remark. > [](https://twitter.com/IanSams/status/763096369183748096) > [](https://twitter.com/JesseLehrich/status/763091573848637441) “This is simple—what Trump is saying is dangerous,” Mook said. “A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.” The Trump campaign also quickly responded with a statement about the “dishonest media” which argued that Trump was actually speaking about the “political power” of gun rights supporters. “It’s called the power of unification – 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump,” said Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesman. One Democratic member of Congress even called for Trump to be investigated by the Secret Service over the remark, while another argued that it would lead to “national tragedy and crisis.” > [](https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/763102551705214976) > [](https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/763106278319198208) The National Rifle Association also weighed in on the controversy, saying that Donald Trump “is right” and slamming Clinton. > [](https://twitter.com/NRA/status/763110521889402880) > [](https://twitter.com/NRA/status/763110645621329920) A Secret Service spokesperson declined to comment on the remark, thought the agency later tweeted about them. > [](https://twitter.com/SecretService/status/763142627202048000) A former top Secret Service official told TIME that if they were still working there they would contact someone on Trump’s campaign staff to have a conversation about whether he understands the consequences of that rhetoric. The official also said they would contact a U.S. attorney to see if Trump broke the law. “Look, this guy is coming pretty close to the edge here,” the official said, adding Trump’s comments could be considered a “veiled threat” against Hillary Clinton. The official added that the Secret Service would have to consider the value of having agents interview Trump. But “if this was some guy off the street and they made that statement, you’d go out and interview them,” the source told TIME. “He’s not gonna act on this. But you don’t know what you’re encouraging other people to do.” _With reporting by Will Drabold._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4445467/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-second-amendment-judges/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4445467/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-second-amendment-judges/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Campaign Condemns Donald Trump's 'Second Amendment' Remark at Rally","datePublished":"2016-08-09T20:21:58.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T04:28:16.000Z","description":"'If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. 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