The U.S. Secret Service says it is investigating an on-air comment which drew reports that conservative radio host Glenn Beck had threatened to stab Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
“In reference [to] Mr. Beck, we are aware and will conduct an appropriate follow up investigation,” Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said in an email Saturday to the Washington Examiner.
Beck seemed to be joking and to be referencing a co-host rather than Trump in the remarks the agency cited.
Hoback did not elaborate or immediately respond to questions about whether the Secret Service was aware of Beck’s explanation.
Beck and co-host and producer Stu Burguiere say Beck was jokingly threatening to attack Burguiere for joking that Trump wears “giant shoes.”
“If I was close enough and I had a knife, really, I mean the stabbing just wouldn’t stop,” Beck said after Burguiere’s comment.
After several publications reported Friday that Beck had mentioned stabbing Trump, Burguiere posted an explanation on Facebook.
“Glenn actually threatened ME, not Donald Trump,” Burguiere wrote.
He said the two hosts were in different locations. That is “why he said, ‘if I were close enough,'” Burguiere said.
“This is is how we bust on each other all the time,” Burguiere added.
