Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that if Donald Trump had planned to hint at an assassination attempt against Hillary Clinton, the Republican presidential nominee wouldn't have said what he did during his rally on Tuesday.

"We know Donald Trump is not particularly indirect," Giuliani told ABC News. "If Donald Trump was going to say something like that, he'd say something like that."

"You know how speeches go. He was talking about how [gun rights supporters] have the power to keep [Clinton] out of office," Giuliani said. "That's what he was talking about. With a crowd like that, if that's what they thought he'd meant, they'd have gone wild."

Trump was criticized on Tuesday for suggesting that "Second Amendment people" could stop his Democratic opponent from nominating new federal judges and Supreme Court justices as president.

"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump told supporters in Wilmington, N.C. "Although the Second Amendment folks, maybe there is. I don't know."

His campaign immediately dismissed those who called the comment a "threat" and those who suggested that the Secret Service investigate.

"There can be no other interpretation," Trump told Fox News Tuesday night, claiming he was referring to how gun rights advocates could turn out in record numbers to vote for him over Clinton. "I mean, give me a break."