‘Uncalled for’: Utah officials react to Salt Lake County District Attorney’s posts about Trump

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill posted on Twitter/X on Saturday to share his thoughts on former President Donald Trump — and that post has since received intense backlash, including from some of Utah’s high-profile Republicans.

On July 20, Gill wrote the following on social media :

What people already know.

Truly, a dead body is more competent than Trump to be President. It would do exponentially less harm to our democratic republic & honor our ideals more.”

Sim Gill via Twitter/X

As of July 23, the post had received more than 1 million views and nearly 5,000 comments. It was still on Gill’s profile on Tuesday.

Several users referenced the attempted assassination of former President Trump when expressing their disapproval of Gill’s post.

Gov. Spencer Cox responded to Gill’s post from his personal Twitter/X account on Sunday, saying, “A new low for Sim following a literal assassination attempt. Disgusting.”

Rob Axson, chairman of the Utah Republican Party, also responded to Gill’s post from his personal account :

This type of rhetoric makes clear that any degree of judicial impartiality is absent as is the decency that we should expect of any public servant. @SimGillDA is void of the judgment his office demands and Salt Lake County would be far better with his resignation.”

Robert Axson via personal Twitter/X account

Gill posted again on Sunday — shortly before President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race — clarifying what he meant while doubling down on his stance.

“In case you missed the point or misconstrued it, the point is that there is more thought in a pile of rocks, tree stump, a bucket of water than the current GOP nominee for President. That is all,” Gill said on social media Sunday .

Republican Rep. for District 16 Trevor Lee commented under Gill’s second post, saying, “Just stop.” Lee later spoke with ABC4.com and said Gill’s comments were “unnecessary.”

“To incite the violence and say it was better he was dead, like — oof, I mean, that is rough,” Lee said. “From an elected official, it’s just uncalled for.”

Gill issued a statement to ABC4.com on Monday to further explain the stance he took in his posts.

“My second tweet is the clarification that we are so blind to the harm we are doing to the foundations of our Republic that inanimate objects would serve the interests of this country more,” Gill said in the statement.

On Monday, Speaker of the House Mike Schultz called for Gill’s resignation on social media and posted a statement from the Utah Fraternal Order of Police that called for Gill to issue a formal apology to Trump.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.