No, this isn’t an authentic FBI post responding to X owner Elon Musk about assassination attempts

After what the FBI called an apparent second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, X owner Elon Musk mused about why no one had tried to kill Democratic presidential nominees. 

"And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala," Musk said in a Sept. 15 X post that has since been deleted. 

A purported screenshot of the FBI responding to Musk’s post started circulating on social media the next day. 

"Unlike his kids, we’re gonna visit him for this," read the supposed Sept. 16 FBI X post. (One of Musk’s children, an estranged daughter, has drawn news coverage for criticizing her father.)

But this screenshot was fabricated.

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Threads posts

stated on October 26, 2024 in a Threads post

Four Florida counties had “zero results” Oct. 26, and “something underhanded might be happening.”

"This was not posted by the FBI," the agency told PolitiFact in a statement. 

The post in the purported screenshot didn’t appear on the FBI’s X account as of Sept. 17, and we found no evidence, such as credible news stories, that the agency posted and then deleted the supposed response to Musk. 

The FBI commented on the arrest of Ryan Wesley Routh, suspected of lurking in the woods Sept. 15 while armed near Trump’s golf course, saying in an X post that day it had "responded to West Palm Beach, Florida, and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination attempt of former President Trump." 

The U.S. Secret Service told Reuters on Sept. 16 that it knew about Musk’s post about the lack of assassination attempts on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, but said it didn’t "comment on matters involving protective intelligence."

We rate False claims the FBI said about Musk’s tweet, "Unlike his kids, we’re gonna visit him for this."