Elon Musk claimed on Monday that some prominent Democrats have encouraged violence against former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"They [Democrats] have actively encouraged people to kill Trump," Musk remarked in response to US author Ashley St. Clair who was in turn responding to a post from US Vice President Kamala Harris, who referred to Trump as a "dictator."

St. Clair replied to Harris's post, asking, "What wouldn’t you do to stop an evil dictator?" implying that the Democrats may have incited extreme actions, including assassination.

In Musk’s reply to St. Clair, he further claimed that Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a major donor to the Democratic Party, had stated at the Sundance Film Festival that he wished Trump to become a "real martyr," which Musk interpreted to mean "dead."

They have actively encouraged people to kill Trump.

Reid Hoffman said to the whole audience at Sundance that he wished Trump would be “real martyr”, ie dead irl.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 16, 2024

'We live in danger times,' Secret Service on attempt on Trump

"We live in danger times," a US Secret Service spokesperson said in a news conference after an apparent "attempted assassination" on former president Donald Trump on Sunday.

Ric Bradshaw, Palm Beach county sheriff, stated at the conference that since Trump is not the sitting president, the federal agency was "limited" to "the areas that the Secret Service deems possible."

"The golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, so when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight," Bradshaw said, emphasizing that if Trump was the current president then the entire golf course area would have been surrounded by Secret Service agents.

"Secret Service did exactly what they should have done," he added.

Rafael Barros, Secret Service special agent in charge of the Miami field office, announced that the Secret Service opened fire on the gunman and had a "potential suspect" in custody.

Both The New York Times and Fox News identified the suspect as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh from Hawaii, though Reuters was unable to verify these claims independently.

Authorities reported that Secret Service agents detected the gunman hiding in bushes near the edge of the property, armed with an AK-47-style assault rifle.

"The threat level is high," Barros said during the news conference

Read more: Violence, instability at forefront of US politics: The Guardian