Trump was pointing to the reporters in front of him as he made the statement.

Journalists and political experts responded to the ex-president's comments immediately.

Vanity Fair contributor Adrian Carrasquillo replied: "Pretty terrible stuff here"

Conservative Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell added: "Another day, another Trump 'joke' about being cool with someone shooting at the media. It’s all so disgraceful."

Spectrum News national political reporter Taylor Popielarz said: "An example of why a growing number of news crews hire private security when covering Trump campaign events."

The Tennessee Holler founder Justin Kanew wrote: "Can’t wait to hear how they try to semantics and context their way out of this one"

University of North Carolina criminal law professor Carissa Byrne Hessick commented: I’m looking forward to hearing from the anti-anti-Trump crowd why it’s totally fine for a presidential candidate to say he would not mind someone shooting members of the media. My money is on 'this is just Trump’s crass way of criticizing the press' or 'context shows it’s a joke'"