US election: Clinton security should be disarmed, says Trump

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing criticism after appearing to hint at the assassination of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for a second time.

Mr Trump suggested Mrs Clinton’s security detail should give up their guns and “see what happens to her”.

He told supporters his rival wanted to “destroy your second amendment” – referring to the right to own guns.

Mrs Clinton’s team has accused Mr Trump of “inciting people to violence”.

Speaking at a rally in Miami on Friday, the Republican candidate said, apparently sarcastically: “I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm, right?

“Take their guns away, she doesn’t want guns. Take their guns and let’s see what happens to her. Take their guns away. OK, it would be very dangerous.”

Robby Mook, a spokesman for Mrs Clinton, said: “Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of Commander in Chief.

“This kind of talk should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate.”

Mrs Clinton has called for tighter gun control laws but has also stressed her support for the second amendment, telling the Democratic Party Convention in July “I’m not here to take away your guns”.

Mr Trump’s remarks echoed a controversial speech last month which many Democrats condemned as a call for Mrs Clinton’s assassination.

Speaking in North Carolina, he claimed that Mrs Clinton wanted to abolish the second amendment, adding: “By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”

The Trump camp later said he was referring to action through the ballot box, not violence.

The latest comments came just hours after Mr Trump was forced to reverse his long-held position that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

Speaking at a campaign event in Washington, he said: “President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period.

But he went on to accuse Mrs Clinton of starting the so-called birther controversy

“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it,” he said.

There is no evidence to link Mrs Clinton to the birther conspiracy. BBC