US Secret Service says it is aware of Musk post about Biden, Harris

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

September 16, 2024 5:11 PM EDT Updated 11 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service said on Monday it was aware of a post by billionaire Elon Musk on the X social media platform musing about an absence of assassination attempts on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Musk, who owns the platform, formerly known as Twitter, put up the post after a man suspected of planning to assassinate Republican former President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach was arrested on Sunday. A Trump supporter and the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), Musk wrote on Sunday: "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala," a post he ended with an emoji of a face with a raised eyebrow.

He was quickly criticized by X users from the left and right, who said they were concerned his words to nearly 200 million followers could incite violence against Biden and Harris. Musk deleted the post but the Secret Service, tasked with protecting current and former presidents, vice presidents and other notable officials, took notice.

"The Secret Service is aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence," a spokesperson told Reuters in an email. "We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees." The spokesperson declined to specify whether the agency had reached out to Musk, who seemed to suggest in follow-up posts that he had been making a joke.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-secret-service-says-it-is-aware-musk-post-about-biden-harris-2024-09-16/

[CanonRay]

1. A joke is what bullies always say

when they get called out

[DeepWinter]

10. Yep

And people joking about "third times a charm."

[riversedge]

15. Yes, Vance's wife said that what Vance said about childless women was a joke also!!

[Irish_Dem]

2. No action will be taken against a rich white male.

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. Unless said actions will benefit some other, ricer, white dude.

Not that there are many of them 'above' that guy's wealth bracket. The issue is that Muskie is doing their work for them so that they don't suffer the public damage from doing it, so they would rather just let him go to town.

[Irish_Dem]

8. And they know Musk is so rich, the DOJ, SS won't touch him.

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. Exactly! (n/t)

[Polybius]

19. Zero are ahead of him

He's got $44 billion more than the next richest person.

https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#2e3c60463d78

[OldBaldy1701E]

24. As 'conspiratorial' as it may sound...

That is known, official wealth. Too many shenanigans have been perpetrated by the wealthy for me to ever believe them at face value. (Yes, I see the irony of making a money based reference.)

[ArmedLiberal24]

3. Sounds like MAGA Musky and others are showcasing a real hit. And not on agent orange 73. TRE45ON.

No. Musky. You piece of orange worshiping filth!!!. You were most certainly NOT MAKING a joke of any kind. You were deadly serious with your own words. You knew damn well what you were saying and sending out a message to get it done. We now see the proud boys caring out their coded messages that were given to them. Know this foolish rich white man. We are in the Millions and Millions. We are blue team and we are heavily armed and we are not going to allow any harm to come to our chosen legally voted in leaders or election theft from MAGA goons like you. Wealthy people just think they are in control and have the power. True power of this country have always been in the hands of the people. And just like Democrats that legally own and carry firearms in this country, that True power as with the guns that Democrats carry and own is often never seen or acknowledged. FATAL strategic failure on MAGA'S side and anyone stupid enough to join or support them or agent orange 73. TRE45ON.

"And no one is even trying to assassinate ................................" sounds like a threat to me !!!!

[sarge43]

4. So Secret Service has a concept of a plan?

If some numb nuts in Dismal Seepage WY posted that, SS would be on him like ugly on an ape. Must be nice to be a rich white guy.

[HagathaCrispy]

5. Dismal Seepage is a good name for a shithole town.

Dismal Seepage is a good name for a Sithole town.

[sarge43]

13. My late husband came up with that one.

I miss his snarky humor.

[HagathaCrispy]

7. No Shit

Were they aware before we became aware?

[Gary 50]

11. You know, Mr. Musk there hasn't been an assassination against any billionaire fascists in a while either.

Ha Ha. Just joking.

[GB_RN]

12. Well, Are They Aware Of The NH Libertarian Party's Xitter Post?

The assclown in charge of that account Xitted that anyone who killed Harris would “be an American hero.”

[This level of stupidity, arrogance and hate should be a criminal offense. In the words of one of my favorite authors: “Stupidity isn’t punishable by violence, but there are days I wish it were.”]

That person later deleted it, then whined about doing so, in order to avoid a TOS violation. Then went on to whinge that “Libertarians are truly the most oppressed minority” because they had no free speech on a free speech platform. 🙄

[PatSeg]

14. Whoa, Libertarians are the most oppressed minority???

I guess everyone is a victim when they don't get their own way. Very Trumpian indeed.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. "Well, Are They Aware Of The NH Libertarian Party's Xitter Post?"

Yes - https://www.nbcboston.com/news/politics/nh-libertarian-party-tweet-federal-agencies/3490561/

Feds ‘aware of' NH Libertarian Party's post glorifying killing of VP Harris



By Asher Klein and Mary Markos • Published September 16, 2024 • Updated on September 16, 2024 at 7:46 pm


The U.S. Attorney's Office for New Hampshire and the Secret Service are both aware of a post on social media made by the state's Libertarian Party that praised as "an American hero" anyone who were to assassinate Vice President Kamala Harris.

The federal agencies confirmed to NBC10 Boston Monday that they knew about Sunday's message — which has drawn widespread condemnation, including from the Libertarian Party's own candidate for president — though they wouldn't confirm whether or not they were investigating they were investigating the inflammatory remark, which was deleted but followed by other such remarks. And while the FBI also wouldn't confirm an investigation to NBC10 Boston, a prominent member of the state's Libertarian Party posted video appearing to show two federal agents attempting to question him about the post.

The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire said it deleted the initial post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday that read, "Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero," because of the site's rules, but lamented that libertarians cannot speak freely there. Both federal prosecutors and the Secret Service indicated Monday, when asked if they were investigating the post in question, that they investigate threats, though they didn't speak to whether the post in particular.

"We are aware of the tweet. Although the department generally will not confirm or deny any specific investigation, threatening violence is a crime and those who do this will be investigated, prosecuted, and held to account in a court of law," U.S. Attorney Jane Young said in a statement.

(snip)

(hopefully people aren't buying into the perception that civil servants are just sitting back and twiddling their thumbs or are playing solitaire on their phones all day, clueless about what is going on )

[Think. Again.]

26. Maybe they just need to be "made aware of"...

...a violent, armed insurrection and coup attempt organized by an ex-President that everyone on the planet watched happen live then.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. "Maybe they just need to be "made aware of"......a violent, armed insurrection and coup attempt"

You'd have to ask Bill Barr and his then-successor who was made "Acting" about that.

Attorney General William Barr resigns


By Allie Malloy, Devan Cole, Christina Carrega and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 4:30 AM EST, Tue December 15, 2020


CNN — Attorney General William Barr on Monday said he would resign next week, ending a tenure in which the President Donald Trump loyalist carried the administration’s “law and order” message but ultimately dealt the most credible blow to Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was littered with fraud.

His departure was announced by the President on Twitter moments after counting in the Electoral College put President-elect Joe Biden over the 270 votes needed to formally secure the presidency. Despite escalating tensions between Trump and Barr that had burst recently into public view, the President framed Barr’s departure as amicable.

“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted, announcing the news.

“Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!”

(snip)

[Think. Again.]

30. Or ask the current AG, merrick garland, which would probably be more appropriate...

...since he's the current AG and has been for years.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. "Or ask the current AG, merrick garland, which would probably be more appropriate..."

The "current AG" was the Chief Judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals when that all went down.

But here is a timeline for your perusal - A Press release happened 9 days after January 6, 3 months BEFORE Merrick Garland was even confirmed -

DOJ OIG Announces Initiation of Review

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today that:

The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is initiating a review to examine the role and activity of DOJ and its components in preparing for and responding to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The DOJ OIG will coordinate its review with reviews also being conducted by the Offices of Inspector General of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Interior. The DOJ OIG review will include examining information relevant to the January 6 events that was available to DOJ and its components in advance of January 6; the extent to which such information was shared by DOJ and its components with the U.S. Capitol Police and other federal, state, and local agencies; and the role of DOJ personnel in responding to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The DOJ OIG also will assess whether there are any weaknesses in DOJ protocols, policies, or procedures that adversely affected the ability of DOJ or its components to prepare effectively for and respond to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. If circumstances warrant, the DOJ OIG will consider examining other issues that may arise during the review.

The DOJ OIG is mindful of the sensitive nature of the ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions related to the events of January 6. Consistent with long-standing OIG practice, in conducting this review, the DOJ OIG will take care to ensure that the review does not interfere with these investigations or prosecutions.

Posted Date January 15, 2021

(snip)

https://oig.justice.gov/news/doj-oig-announces-initiation-review-1

Transcript of January 15, 2021 DOJ PRESS CONFERENCE (PDF) - Press Conference Friday, January 15, 2021, 1:00 PM Eastern

United States Department of Justice
Press Conference
Friday, January 15, 2021, 1:00 PM Eastern

PARTICIPANTS

Marc Raimondi - Spokesman

Michael Sherwin - Interim United States Attorney for the District of
Columbia

Steven D'Antuono - FBI Assistant Director in Charge of Washington Field
Officer

Ashan Benedict - Special Agent in Charge of ATF Office in Washington


PRESENTATION

Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Department of Justice media call. All participants will be in listen-
only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing "*"
followed by "0". After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. You
may join the queue at any time during the presentation by pressing "*" then "1" on your
touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press "*" then "2". Please note this event is
being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Marc Raimondi. Please go ahead.

Marc Raimondi
Thank you, and thank you all for joining us. We are a few minutes late because we wanted to
wait until the mayor of DC was able to finish her press conference because I think hers went a
little late.

We have three speakers today that will give brief remarks, and then we have time for a few
questions, and then we will let these guys that are leading the investigations and the
prosecutions get back to work. The first that is going to speak is the Acting U.S. Attorney for the
District of Washington, Michael Sherwin. He is going to be followed by the FBI Assistant
Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office Steven D'Antuono, and then we have an
individual, Ashan Benedict, who is the Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Office here in
Washington. Again he hasn't been one on these calls previously. It is Ashan, A-S-H-A-N
Benedict, B-E-N-E-D-I-C-T.

Without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Michael Sherwin, but I would ask that if you do
think you're going to ask a question, start queuing up now, I believe it is "*" "1" to queue up so
we can get right into the Q&A phase and then let these guys get back to their day job. Thank
you. Go ahead.

Michael Sherwin
So hello, everyone. It is Mike Sherwin here. So a quick update with where we are at in terms of
prosecution and the investigation, and then I will turn it over to my colleagues here with the
Bureau and ATF.

So as of this morning 8 AM, we have currently 175 open investigations that are subjects that we
are currently looking at related to the violence in the capital. That would include cases of
violence outside the Capitol and also on the Capitol grounds, and also inside the Capitol. Of--as
related to those 275 open investigations, we anticipate that that is going to grow easily past 300
probably by the end of the day and then exponentially increase into the weekend and next
week.

So again, as of 8 AM this morning, in terms of cases, prosecutions we have opened 98 criminal
cases in terms of criminal cases that have been filed, and the majority of those cases are
federal felony cases, so I think I tried to articulate this earlier this week that, initially, we were
looking to fix, fine and charge the low hanging fruit, the individuals that we could easily roundup
in charge. A great bulk of those were misdemeanor cases, but as the investigation continues, as
the days and weeks progress, we are looking at more significant federal felony charges, and
that is exactly what we are doing in partnership with our local and federal partners.

So some of the cases that I think want to just highlight, they are emblematic of what we are
trying to do here are the following in terms of trying to really focus on some of the violent
offenders both inside and outside the Capitol. Some of these cases include Mr. Peter Stager;
this was the individual out of Arkansas. He was charged with a federal felony and arrested
yesterday in Arkansas, and this was the individual I think that's really the height of hypocrisy
that was beating an MPD officer with a flagpole, and at the other end of that flagpole was
attached the American flag and look as a veteran I found that case even more egregious, the
act of again just the hypocrisy of Mr. Stager's actions.

Another case focusing on violence that was Mr. Steger's case was violence on law
enforcement, and we are specifically focusing on that but also, unfortunately, as this case goes
on, we are seeing indications that law enforcement officers, both former and current, may have
been off duty and participating in this riot activity and I think as we said earlier, we don't care
what your profession is, who you are, who you are affiliated with if you were conducting or
engaged in criminal activity we will charge you, and you will be arrested, and that is exactly what
we are doing.

(snip)

Much more in PDF...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/politics/trump-jan-6-merrick-garland.html (timeline)

[Think. Again.]

33. Thanks, but not interested in the timeline...

I'm interested in the current doj bringing charges against the crimes committed by trump and associates.

The trespassing and such arrests of trump's pawns were a good start, but the real serious crimes need to be addressed by the only agency that has the responsibility to do that.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. "Thanks, but not interested in the timeline..."

Of course you aren't because it doesn't fit "the narrative".

(P.S. there is a NYT link there in that post that was from an article posted 3/27/24 that takes it through to Smith's involvement)

P.S.S.

I'm interested in the current doj bringing charges against the crimes committed by trump and associates.

[Think. Again.]

35. I don't understand your implication....

But it is my opinion that merrick garland has been severely derelict in his duty to investigate and prosecute criminal wrongdoing.

Is that what you are labelling a "narrative"?

[BumRushDaShow]

37. You wrote this

I'm interested in the current doj bringing charges against the crimes committed by trump and associates.

Did you miss the fact that "charges were brought"?

I mean seriously.

Unless you have some other definition for "charges being brought".

The ONE thing holding this up IS A DIFFERENT BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT - THE JUDICIARY.

I heard a report on the radio last night and saw the story today (since today is "Constitution Day" ) that 1/3rd of Americans had no idea how many branches the U.S. government has.

Do you know the 3 branches of US government? Many don't, leading to a push for civics education

Unfortunately a lot of the anger and frustration and lashing out on DU is because people really don't have a clue about how the government works (or doesn't work).

[Think. Again.]

38. Yeah, but garland really does need to begin investigations and prosecutions against trump and his associates...

...for orchestrating, directing, and carrying out the violent, armed insurrection of Jan. 6, though.

But he probably won't. I'm sure Harris' replacement of him will look into it if garland hasn't already let the clock run out too far.

(I'm curious, why do you keep attempting to misdirect the discussion?)

[BumRushDaShow]

39. Did you read the indictments?

You are relatively "new" here. All of this was gone over when the indcitments came in January 2023.

Marc Elias' "Democracy Docket" has a good summary of it and the links to the actual indictments (and as a FYI, "indictments" = "charges" ) - https://www.democracydocket.com/indictments/

Just take the time, pull up the PDFs, and go through them.

It's difficult having a discussion with someone who hasn't even bothered to look at the court documents.

[Think. Again.]

40. Well, perhaps we shouldn't have this discussion then. Thanks for your input!

[BumRushDaShow]

42. Pull up this document

https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Indictment-1.pdf

And scroll to pg. 37 and read until pg 42 where the "charge" describes the "incitement" of the mobs at the rally and all the actions that 45 and his minions did related to the breach of the Capitol, the demand that Pence overturn the certification, his ignoring many in Congressional leadership to stop the insanity, and call off the savages.

It starts with this -

101. On the morning of January 6, an agent of the Defendant contacted a United States
Senator to ask him to hand-deliver documents to the Vice President. The agent then facilitated the
receipt by the Senator's staff of the fraudulent certificates signed by the Defendant's fraudulent
electors in Michigan and Wisconsin, which were believed not to have been delivered to the Vice
President or Archivist by mail. When one of the Senator's staffers contacted a staffer for the Vice
President by text message to arrange for delivery of what the Senator's staffer had been told were
"[a]ltemate slate[s] of electors for MI and WI because archivist didn't receive them," the Vice
President's staffer rejected them.

102. At 11:15 a.m., the Defendant called the Vice President and again pressured him to
fraudulently reject or return Biden's legitimate electoral votes. The Vice President again refused.

(snip)

[riversedge]

17. 🚨 #BREAKINGNEWS Elon Musk has suddenly deleted this post that he makes reference that a sitting President and Vice Pres

This was news from Yesterday!!


🚨 #BREAKINGNEWS Elon Musk has suddenly deleted this post that he makes reference that a sitting President and Vice President hasn't had an assassination attempt on them. 🚨

Link to tweet

[alarimer]

18. Musk needs to lose his security clearance and government contracts.

No Space-X/ NASA contracts until he is gone. It's not as if he's the brains of the operation.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. "No Space-X/ NASA contracts until he is gone."

We are SOL. From here - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3308335

Remember these two (from Boeing Starliner fame)?



SpaceX is their (and all the rest on the ISS) only way back home unless they use Russia's Soyuz to get home. That's why so much hope was put on Boeing as an alternative/backup.

Soyuz safely launches NASA’s oldest American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts enroute to ISS (9/11/24)

Pick one. Him or Russia.

[alarimer]

21. NASA is totally screwed.

To be reliant on a security risk like Musk (how many secrets is he selling to Russia, I wonder) or a terrible company like Boeing.

It would be better if the government stripped his security clearance and made it part of the contract (dunno if they can) that he can't be involved.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. Congress won't fund food (Farm Bill) or Medicare or the ACA

let alone NASA, so it's either that or a barely functional space program at this point.

[Linda ladeewolf]

25. NASA could

Always hire Musks people away from him and cancel his contracts.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Congress has refused to fund NASA adequately.

They only want to reduce revenue by giving more tax breaks to the billionaires and big corporations.

Completely contracting-out, versus the contracting-out that has ALWAYS been done by NASA except NASA put their name on the vehicle instead of the contractor, was the "cheaper" solution.

People don't seem to get that for some reason.

[alarimer]

41. Eventually one of these companies will have a disaster.

Space-X nearly blew up a town in S. Texas already.

[AZLD4Candidate]

22. When will this toxic, violence supporting foreign leech get deported already?

Non rich and famous foreigners were deported for things 1,000,000,000 times less than this violence prompting post against a sitting president and a presidential candidate.

Some were deported simply being caught with weed.

One set of rules for the VIPs and ruling class
One set of rules for the middle class
One set of rules for the poor
One set of rules for minorities.

Liberty and justice for all my Jewish ass.

[CBHagman]

28. As with the TSA, there should be no such thing as a joke.

I haven't read up on the culture of the Secret Service, but I do recall that even when the late Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) said that President Bill Clinton should watch where he travels, there was a follow-up on it.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/11/29/sen-helms-creates-uproar-tells-clinton-to-watch-out/

[vapor2]

36. Just heard Vance say the exact same thing as Elon the moron