WASHINGTON — On September 16, the U.S. Secret Service confirmed it was aware of a post by billionaire Elon Musk on the social media platform X, where he speculated about the lack of assassination attempts on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Musk, who owns X (formerly Twitter), made the comment following the arrest of a man suspected of plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump on September 15. In his post, Musk, also the CEO of Tesla, wrote: "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala," and ended it with a raised eyebrow emoji.

The post drew swift criticism from both left- and right-leaning X users, who worried that Musk's words to his nearly 200 million followers could incite violence against Biden and Harris. Musk deleted the post but the Secret Service, responsible for protecting top officials, took note.

A Secret Service spokesperson said, "We are aware of the social media post made by Elon Musk and, as a matter of practice, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters. However, we investigate all threats related to our protectees."

The spokesperson did not clarify whether the agency had contacted Musk, who later suggested he was joking. Musk commented, "Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people don’t know the context and the delivery is plain text."

Both Harris, who is running against Trump in the upcoming election, and Biden expressed relief and gratitude that Trump was unharmed and condemned political violence in statements released on the evening of September 15. The White House also criticized Musk's post, with spokesperson Andrew Bates stating, "Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible."

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters