A Donald Trump adviser has doubled down on his call last month for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to be shot for treason, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state representative and co-chair of Trump's national veterans coalition, said last month after being asked about the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya that Clinton should be shot by a firing squad for her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
This week a reporter for The Republican/MassLive.com asked Baldasaro if he still stands by what he said.
He responded by saying, "The liberal media took what I said and went against the law and the Constitution and ran with it, and they said that I wanted her assassinated, which I never did. I said I spoke as a veteran, and she should be shot in a firing squad for treason."
He added that U.S. law sets the death penalty for treason, insisting that Clinton's use of a private email server could be considered treasonous for exposing American secrets and agents.
When he was asked if he was at all worried that, upon hearing his rhetoric, someone might act violently, Baldasaro said, "What you in the liberal media consider rhetoric, I consider freedom of speech."
He added that if people are so concerned, then they should change the law. He compared it to someone who calls for the death penalty for a shooter that kills a police officer, which is the law in New Hampshire.
After his comments last month, the New York Daily News reported that the Secret Service said it was investigating Baldasaro for inciting violence.
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