Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk is reportedly being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service after posting a joke on social media after the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Sunday.
Bloomberg reported that following Sunday’s failed assassination attempt against Trump, the DogeDesigner social media account tweeted, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?” In response, Musk wrote, “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala???”
According to Bloomberg, prior to deleting the tweet on X, formerly Twitter, Musk’s comment, which he claimed was a joke, was viewed by millions of people, including the Secret Service. Following the incident, the outlet sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the Secret Service’s Protective Intelligence and Assessment Division, the Office of Investigations, and the Office of Protective Operations, asking for any documents and emails related to Musk’s social media post.
On Wednesday, the Secret Service told Bloomberg that the requested documents and email records were “compiled for law enforcement purposes” and were being withheld by the agency since “disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.” The Secret Service’s FOIA division also told Bloomberg that the Protective Intelligence Division was not able to release the requested records due to “enforcement proceedings.”
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According to Bloomberg, Nate Herring, a Secret Service spokesperson, confirmed that the agency “is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk,” adding, “As a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence. We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees.”
Following the controversy surrounding his joke on social media, Musk tweeted, “Well, one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”
In another social media post regarding the incident, Musk wrote, “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”
