Igniting a global firestorm with a call to ban Muslims from entering the United States, Donald Trump now finds himself the target of death threats, according to news reports.
The Secret Service agents assigned to the leading Republican presidential candidate are investigating a number of death threats tweeted against him this week following his controversial remarks.
“Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension,” Trump said in a prepared statement. “Where this hatred comes from and why, we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”
Earlier this week, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Trump made the proposal in the wake of the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California that left 14 dead and more than 20 wounded.
On Twitter, Trump’s critics made several references to killing the presidential candidate.
“Can we kill Trump?” asked one woman.
“Kill trump immediately,” another woman wrote.
“Now he wants to impede Muslims from entering the U.S.? Someone really needs to kill trump ASAP,” wrote another Twitter user.
Republican presidential candidates House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus distanced themselves from Trump on Tuesday.
“We need to aggressively take on radical Islamic terrorism but not at the expense of our American values,” Priebus told the Washington Examiner.
Trump defended his position on CNN, saying rejection of the proposal is the equivalent of putting “blinders” on.
“You’re going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don’t solve it—many, many more and probably beyond the World Trade Center,” Trump said.
