Could Donald Trump really be prosecuted for his apparent Hillary Clinton insinuation?

[KamaAina]

Here’s the statute that could land the mogul in prison if officials deemed it a serious threat

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/statute-put-trump-prison-hillary-jab-article-1.2744784

After Donald Trump appeared to encourage Second Amendment supporters to shoot Hillary Clinton Tuesday, a number of figures in politics, advocacy and media began suggesting that the erratic GOP nominee be prosecuted for his words....

Here is the federal criminal code that could theoretically be used to prosecute Trump if officials were to deem his remarks a true threat.

18 U.S.C. § 879 : US Code - Section 879: Threats against former Presidents and certain other persons

(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon - (1) a former President or a member of the immediate family of a former President; (2) a member of the immediate family of the President, the President-elect, the Vice President, or the Vice President-elect; (3) a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate; or (4) a person protected by the Secret Service under section 3056(a)(6); shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. (b) As used in this section - (1) the term "immediate family" means - (A) with respect to subsection (a)(1) of this section, the wife of a former President during his lifetime, the widow of a former President until her death or remarriage, and minor children of a former President until they reach sixteen years of age; and (B) with respect to subsection (a)(2) and (a)(3) of this section, a person to whom the President, President-elect, Vice President, Vice President-elect, or major candidate for the office of President or Vice President - (i) is related by blood, marriage, or adoption; or (ii) stands in loco parentis; (2) the term "major candidate for the office of President or Vice President" means a candidate referred to in subsection (a)(7) of section 3056 of this title; and (3) the terms "President-elect" and "Vice President-elect" have the meanings given those terms in section 871(b) of this title.

Hillary is both a major candidate for the office of President and the wife of a former President. Wonder how Cheeto Man would look in an orange jumpsuit? The woman who posted this to FB suggested a Crayola crayon!

[C_U_L8R]

1. Trump will be held to account

... if anyone is hurt in the slightest.
You preach hate and violence, you own the result.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. His remark was just vague enough to avoid criminal liability.

But the political blowback is considerable and (I hope) will continue.

[jberryhill]

3. No

Speculating that someone maybe would assassinate a future president under some conditional circumstances is simply not making a threat.

Is it a good thing to do? No. But that statute requires a specific threat by the person making the threat.

There have historically been many comments on DU to the effect of hoping the SS is doing a good job because nutbars of various stripes might attempt to assassinate the president. Suggesting that someone else might do something is simply not direct enough to qualify, IMHO, without creating a First Amendment problem.

Can someone say, "I hope someone kills the president because I don't like him/her", in your opinion?

If not, then is it illegal to hope such a thing, or simply illegal to say it?

There is a big difference between saying, "I think someone else will/should kill the president" and saying "I am going to kill the president."

How about "I wish the president would drop dead." For years the site IsDickCheneyDeadYet.com would issue regular reports on the answer to that question.

[Mme. Defarge]

4. "Do menacing comments about Hillary Clinton cross the First Amendment line?"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/do-menacing-comments-about-hillary-clinton-cross-the-first-amendment-line/2016/08/10/25259344-5f0f-11e6-af8e-54aa2e849447_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.e8e1d614ef11