Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused her Republican rival Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Clinton's comments added to the a growing outcry over Trump's controversial remarks on Tuesday at a North Carolina rally, which some interpreted as a call for violence against his White House rival.
"Words matter, my friends," Clinton said at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, according to Reuters.
"And if you are running to be president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences," she added.
"Yesterday, we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line," continued Clinton, citing "his casual inciting of violence."
In the remarks on Tuesday, Trump said, "Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, 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 clarified in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that his remarks were a call for political, not physical, action.
“There is tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment, tremendous," he was quoted as having said. "And you look at the power they have in terms of votes and that’s what I was referring to, obviously that’s what I was referring to, and everybody knows it."
High-profile Republicans and rank-and-file voters appeared shaken on Wednesday after a string of Trump misfires, struggling with how to best reject his divisive candidacy, noted Reuters. Some pledged to withhold their endorsement and others backed Clinton.
Clinton's campaign now has a website for Republicans and political independents to sign up to pledge their support, noted the news agency, listing 50 prominent Republicans and independents who have endorsed her.
On Monday, 50 Republican national security officials signed an open letter questioning Trump's temperament, calling him reckless and unqualified to be president.
Other top Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine this week, have disavowed Trump but said they cannot back Clinton.