Elon Musk has deleted a post on his social media platform X in which he said “no one is even trying to assassinate” President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the wake of an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was playing golf.

Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.

While he has removed posts in the past, Musk has also kept up and even doubled down on other such inflammatory comments. Last week, he made a joke about impregnating Taylor Swift after the singer posted an endorsement for Harris.

Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, the 53-year-old billionaire wrote on the platform: “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.”

The original post was in response to DogeDesigner, one of the 700 accounts that Musk follows, who asked: “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”

Musk’s reply was quickly condemned by many X users, and “DeportElonMusk” began trending on X on Monday morning.

“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates in response to Musk’s post. “This rhetoric is irresponsible.”

The Tesla CEO has previously posted conspiracy theories and feuded with world leaders and politicians. X is currently banned in Brazil amid a dustup between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

He’s also received criticism in the past for what critics said were posts encouraging violence.

Last month, for instance, the British government called on Musk to act responsibly after he used X to unleash a barrage of posts that officials said risked inflaming violent unrest gripping the country.

Musk said when he bought the platform then known as Twitter that protecting free speech — not money — was his motivation because, as he put it, “having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.”

Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute, noted that Musk has long been trying to “push the boundaries of free speech, in part by engaging in impulsive, unfiltered comments on a range of political topics.”

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Associated Press Writer Chris Megerian contributed to this story from Washington.

Shortly following reports of an apparent second assassination attempt against former US president and 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Elon Musk decided to speak up.

“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala ,” Musk, X’s owner, wrote in a now deleted post, in response to another person asking, “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”

After deleting the post—which could be interpreted as a call to murder President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the US presidential election—Musk indicated that it was merely a joke that fell flat given the context. “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,” he wrote, adding, “Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text.”

The incident was the latest in a long line of increasingly incendiary political posts from Musk, whose substantial defense contracts with the US government may give him access to highly sensitive information even while he makes potential threats against the sitting commander in chief. And they point to the more pressing risk that Musk’s recent rhetoric has posed: the potential to inspire further political violence.

While Sunday night’s post is gone, it appears likely that Musk could receive some attention from federal law enforcement, if he hasn’t already.

The United States Secret Service declined WIRED’s request to comment on Musk’s post. “We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees,” USSS spokesperson Nate Herring tells WIRED.

“In my experience, the Secret Service would take such a comment very seriously,” says Michael German, a former FBI special agent and a liberty and national security fellow at NYU School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. “Typically, agents would go out and interview the subject to ensure that there wasn’t an existing threat, and to make the subject aware that the agency takes such statements seriously.”

German notes that it’s possible the FBI could also launch an investigation. However, it’s unlikely that Musk would face any charges for his post. “On its face, the tweet would not meet the ‘true threat’ test, in that it wasn’t a direct threat to do harm to the vice president, so it wouldn’t likely proceed to prosecution,” German says. Still, “it would create a record of the investigations.”

The FBI declined WIRED’s request to comment on Musk’s post. X did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Both Biden and Harris have released statements condemning the apparent attempt on Trump’s life and political violence more broadly. In a statement to ABC News, the White House condemned Musk’s post. “Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about,” the statement says. “This rhetoric is irresponsible.”

Where things get dicier for Musk is his role as a major contractor for the US Department of Defense and NASA. According to Reuters, SpaceX signed a $1.8 billion contract in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office, which oversees US spy satellites. The US Space Force also signed a $70 million contract late last year with SpaceX to build out military-grade low-earth-orbit satellite capabilities. Starlink, SpaceX’s commercial satellite internet wing, is providing connectivity to the US Navy.

WASHINGTON – It was almost time for the presidential debate, but Kamala Harris’ staff thought there was one more thing she needed to know. So less than an hour before the vice president left her Philadelphia hotel, two communications aides got her on the phone for one of the strangest briefings of her political career.

They told her that Donald Trump had been posting on social media about a false and racist rumor that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s pets. The former president might mention it during the debate, they said.

The warning, described by two people with knowledge of the conversation, proved spot on.

While answering a question about immigration policy, Trump said migrants in Springfield were “eating the dogs” and “they’re eating the cats.” Harris laughed, shook her head and stared at her Republican opponent in amazement. “Talk about extreme,” she said, and then moved on.

It was easily the most bizarre moment from last week’s debate, spawning an explosion of online memes and parody videos. Now, Harris is trying to use her performance as an ongoing source of momentum, hoping to rekindle the kind of energy that she generated when she replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

It is unclear whether the debate will affect the outcome of the Nov. 5 election. In a flash poll of viewers conducted by CNN afterward, opinions of Trump were unchanged and Harris received only a slight bump in the share of people who view her favorably. But her team is making the most of it, turning key points into television advertisements and flooding the internet with clips. No equivalent effort is apparent from Trump’s side, despite his repeated insistence that he came out on top.

There almost certainly will not be another debate; Trump has said he will not do one. That means the debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia may be the only chance that voters will have to see the candidates side by side.

This story is based on interviews with five people close to Harris, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations and reveal new details about how she prepared for and handled the debate. It was her first time meeting Trump in person.

Harris spent five days getting ready at a hotel in downtown Pittsburgh after a breakneck few weeks of campaigning.

Her team recreated the set where she would debate Trump on the night of Sept. 10. It was a far more professional setup than Harris had used eight years earlier as she was running for Senate in California, when campaign staff taped together cardboard boxes to serve as makeshift lecterns.

Two communications aides — one man, one woman — stood in for David Muir and Linsey Davis, the ABC News debate moderators.

Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, reprised his role as Trump, which he played when the former secretary of state ran for president. Reines wore a dark suit, a long red tie and orange bronzer to embody Trump.

One challenge would be the microphones.

When Biden was running, his team agreed that the debate microphones should be muted when it was not a candidate’s turn to speak. But Harris’ staff wanted the microphones hot at all times, which would allow her to jump in and create more opportunities for Trump to make outbursts.

But their campaign could not reach an agreement to change the rules, and the original plan remained in place.

Harris decided to make the most of the split screen format, where each candidate would be on camera at all times. Biden had flubbed the visual test when he debated Trump in June, often looking aimless with his mouth slightly agape. Harris provided silent commentary through her expressiveness — laughing, raising her eyebrows, bringing her hand to her chin with a quizzical look.

At one point during preparations, staff members suggested practicing mannerisms that Harris could use. The vice president waved them off, saying she would be fine without that kind of rehearsal.

Harris rarely left the hotel during preparations. On Sept. 7, she took a field trip to Penzeys Spices, where she picked up some seasoning mixes. One woman in the store wept as Harris hugged her. On Sept. 8, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, went to a military airbase and took a walk for about a half hour. Because of security considerations, the tarmac was the only place where they could stretch their legs.

Asked if she was ready for the debate, Harris gave reporters a thumb’s up and said “ready.”

She ended up leaving Pittsburgh on Sept. 9 rather than the day of the debate, canceling an extra mock debate and getting to Philadelphia earlier than expected.

As the clock ticked down to the start of the debate, dozens of staff members in the campaign’s Delaware headquarters assembled in assigned seats in front of four television screens. Some were nervous, still rattled from watching Biden implode in his own debate with Trump.

But Harris’ opening move, striding toward Trump to shake his hand as they took the stage, helped ease those jitters.

Throughout the debate, Harris mocked and needled Trump, throwing him off balance with jabs about the size of crowds at his campaign rallies. She pounced on questions about abortion and promised the country a new generation of leadership, while Trump became increasingly agitated and missed opportunities to press his case against her.

During the final commercial break, Trump departed the stage with a sigh. Harris stayed at her lectern, writing on her notepad, reviewing her words and taking a sip of water.

In her closing statement, she told viewers that “I think you’ve heard tonight two very different visions for our country — one that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past.”

Trump ended his remarks by calling Harris “the worst vice president in the history of our country.”

There was no live audience in the room to react to the candidates, and it was not always clear whether certain lines or expressions were hitting their marks.

So when Harris left the stage, she had a question for her staff: How did I do?

PRAGUE – The head of NATO’s military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage — reflecting the beliefs of a number of U.S. allies — even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons.

“Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn’t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Adm. Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee’s annual meeting, also attended by U.S. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Bauer, of Netherlands, also added that nations have the sovereign right to put limits on the weapons they send to Ukraine. But, standing next to him at a press briefing, Lt. Gen. Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, made it clear his nation places no such weapons restrictions on Kyiv.

“We believe that the Ukrainians should decide themselves how to use it,” Řehka said.

Their comments came as U.S. President Joe Biden is weighing whether to allow Ukraine to use American-provided long-range weapons to hit deep into Russia. And they hint at the divisions over the issue.

Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday, after this week’s visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats, who came under fresh pressure to loosen weapons restrictions. U.S. officials familiar with discussions said they believed Starmer was seeking Biden’s approval to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia.

Biden’s approval may be needed because Storm Shadow components are made in the U.S. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the status of private conversations, said they believed Biden would be amenable, but there has been no decision announced yet.

Providing additional support and training for Ukraine was a key topic at the NATO chiefs’ meeting, but it wasn’t clear Saturday if the debate over the U.S. restrictions was discussed.

Many of the European nations have been vigorously supportive of Ukraine in part because they worry about being the next victim of an empowered Russia.

At the opening of the meeting, Czech Republic President Petr Pavel broadly urged the military chiefs gathered in the room to be ”bold and open in articulating your assessments and recommendations. The rounder and the softer they are, the less they will be understood by the political level.”

The allies, he said, must “take the right steps and the right decisions to protect our countries and our way of life.”

The military leaders routinely develop plans and recommendations that are then sent to the civilian NATO defense secretaries for discussion and then on to the nations’ leaders in the alliance.

The U.S. allows Ukraine to use American-provided weapons in cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces. But it doesn’t allow Kyiv to fire long-range missiles, such as the ATACMS, deep into Russia. The U.S. has argued that Ukraine has drones that can strike far and should use ATACMS judiciously because they only have a limited number.

Ukraine has increased its pleas with Washington to lift the restrictions, particularly as winter looms and Kyiv worries about Russian gains during the colder months.

“You want to weaken the enemy that attacks you in order to not only fight the arrows that come your way, but also attack the archer that is, as we see, very often operating from Russia proper into Ukraine,” said Bauer. “So militarily, there’s a good reason to do that, to weaken the enemy, to weaken its logistic lines, fuel, ammunition that comes to the front. That is what you want to stop, if at all possible.”

Brown, for his part, told reporters traveling with him to the meeting that the U.S. policy on long-range weapons remains in place.

But, he added, “by the same token, what we want to do is — regardless of that policy — we want to continue to make Ukraine successful with the capabilities that have been provided” by the U.S. and other nations in the coalition, as well as the weapons Kyiv has been able to build itself.

“They’ve proven themselves fairly effective in building out uncrewed aerial vehicles, in building out drones,” Brown told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made similar points, arguing that one weapons system won’t determine success in the war.

“There are a number of things that go into the overall equation as to whether or not you know you want to provide one capability or another,” Austin said Friday. “There is no silver bullet when it comes to things like this.”

He also noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.

WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris, who presents herself as the candidate of change as she runs for president against Republican Donald Trump, said Friday that she’s different from President Joe Biden because she offers “a new generation of leadership.”

In her first solo television interview since she became the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris also criticized the “hate and division that we see coming out of Donald Trump” and said she thinks people are “exhausted” by his style of leadership.

She also said she’s a gun owner and doesn’t want to take away anyone’s guns, but she believes a ban on assault-style weapons is necessary and consistent with the Second Amendment.

Anchor Brian Taff of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia asked Harris to describe one or two areas where she’s different from the president.

“Well, I’m obviously not Joe Biden” and “I offer a new generation of leadership,” Harris said, adding that things once taken for granted cannot be overlooked anymore.

“For example, another plan that I have that is a new approach is to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 for young families for the first year of their child’s life because that is obviously a very critical stage of development of child, and so my approach is about new ideas, new policies that are directed at the current moment,” she said. “And also, to be very honest with you, my focus is very much on what we need to do over the next 10, 20 years to catch up to the 21st century around, again, capacity but also challenges.”

The interview was conducted in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as Harris campaigned there Friday.

Trump, his running mate Sen. JD Vance and other Republicans have criticized Harris for largely avoiding media interviews or interacting on the record with reporters who cover her campaign events. She and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gave a joint interview to CNN last month. Her campaign recently said she will begin to do more local interviews, and the National Association of Black Journalists announced Friday that some of its members will interview Harris on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Harris used a question about the former president’s appeal and how she would speak to his supporters to criticize Trump and his leadership style.

“I also believe that I am accurate in knowing that most Americans want a leader who brings us together as Americans and not someone who professes to be a leader who is trying to have us point our fingers at each other,” she said.

The vice president suggested that her support from Republican officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, is a result of people being “exhausted” with Trump.

“I think people are more willing now, in light of the hate and division that we see coming out of Donald Trump to say, ‘Hey, let’s put country first’ and I think that just makes us stronger and more healthy as a country,” she said.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The vice president, 59, is a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator. She offered a few answers when asked to share one thing she would like people to know about her they don’t yet know.

“Probably it’s not very different from anybody watching right now,” she said. “I love my family. One of my favorite things that I lately have not been able to do is Sunday family dinner. I love to cook.”

Harris also said her best friend from kindergarten “is still my best friend.”