--- title: Donald Trump: Secret Service Vet Slams 2nd Amendment Remark description: A former top Secret Service official said Donald Trump's second amendment comments on Tuesday were "pretty close to the edge." canonical: https://time.com/4445735/former-secret-service-official-donald-trump-is-pretty-close-to-the-edge/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-09T21:11:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:27:33.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former Secret Service Official: Trump Is ‘Close to the Edge' og:description: "You don't know what you're encouraging other people to do." og:url: https://time.com/4445735/former-secret-service-official-donald-trump-is-pretty-close-to-the-edge/ 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: Former Secret Service Official: Trump Is ‘Close to the Edge' twitter:description: "You don't know what you're encouraging other people to do." 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 ---  # Former Secret Service Official: Donald Trump Is ‘Pretty Close to the Edge' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. 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 [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:27 AM UTCPublished: Aug 9, 2016 9:11 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 [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:27 AM UTCPublished: Aug 9, 2016 9:11 PM UTC Donald Trump’s comments Tuesday about [“Second Amendment people”](http://time.com/4445467/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-second-amendment-judges/) could be considered a “veiled threat” against Hillary Clinton, a former top Secret Service official told TIME. The official said that if they were still working at the U.S. Secret Service, they would contact someone on Trump’s campaign staff to have a conversation about whether he understands the consequences of that rhetoric. At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Trump said that 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. The former Secret Service official said they would ask a U.S. attorney to see if Trump broke any laws with the comment. “Look, this guy is coming pretty close to the edge here,” the official said. 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.” After speaking with TIME, the official added they would “absolutely” interview Donald Trump about his comments. Such interviews are standard procedure for people who the Secret Service believes may have threatened a public official, the source said. A spokesperson for the Secret Service declined to comment on Trump’s remark. One Democratic member of Congress specifically called on the Secret Service to investigate Trump. > [](https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/763102551705214976) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4445735/former-secret-service-official-donald-trump-is-pretty-close-to-the-edge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4445735/former-secret-service-official-donald-trump-is-pretty-close-to-the-edge/"},"headline":"Former Secret Service Official: Donald Trump Is ‘Pretty Close to the Edge'","datePublished":"2016-08-09T21:11:28.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T04:27:33.000Z","description":"'You don't know what you're encouraging other people to do'","url":"https://time.com/4445735/former-secret-service-official-donald-trump-is-pretty-close-to-the-edge/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","Secret Service"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7817ee38dcf15181/6988a1bf2dce0141bf9ea3da/donald-trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7817ee38dcf15181/6988a1bf2dce0141bf9ea3da/donald-trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina","caption":"Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Trask Coliseum at University of North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S., August 9, 2016. 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