Elon Musk and Bill Ackman endorse Trump’s 2024 bid for president after shooting

Musk, who leads multiple businesses, including electric-car company Tesla and rocket-maker SpaceX, unleashed a flurry of comments on his social-media platform X after the shooting, including his endorsement of the former president and criticism of the Secret Service.

“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk wrote in one post, attaching a video of Trump being whisked off stage following the attempt. In a subsequent post he said, “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt."

The endorsements from the two are wins for Trump, bringing into the fold people with outsize influence on social media and in the business world, as well as outsize pocketbooks.

Musk has previously made clear his displeasure with President Biden, a Democrat, and has developed an increasingly friendly rapport with Trump, a Republican, in recent months. But Saturday’s statement was his most explicit public statement of support for Trump’s bid to regain the White House. He also replied to another user’s post stating that U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio) should be Trump’s vice president pick, saying: “You’re right."

Musk additionally called on the head of the Secret Service to resign. The agency is expected to face several investigations in the aftermath of the assassination attempt.

“Extreme incompetence or it was deliberate. Either way, the SS leadership must resign," he said.

A Secret Service spokesman said over the weekend that Trump had additional security and resources while traveling for the campaign, and there is an active investigation into the incident.

Ackman, the founder and CEO of hedge-fund Pershing Square Capital Management, wrote in a relatively lengthy post on X Saturday night that he is going to formally endorse Trump. He said he had come to this decision some time ago but didn’t feel the urgency to write about it until now.

He said that he will elaborate on his thinking in a long-form post that will include his observations of Trump, after spending some time with the former president. “I want to make the case thoughtfully and convincingly."

This post didn’t directly mention the shooting, although Ackman reposted several others that denounced the political violence.

Several other top CEOs in business and tech joined a chorus of voices over the weekend condemning the shooting, wishing Trump well and calling for an end to political violence.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, wrote in a posting within hours of the shooting that his thoughts were with Trump and the “other victims and the Trump family."

“I strongly condemn this violence," Cook added.

Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff also took to X with a similar message, saying that there is no room for political violence in the country and he hopes Trump will recover quickly.

Others, such as Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai joined in expressing shock and dismay and wishing Trump well in his recovery.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos wrote in a posting that Trump showed “tremendous grace and courage under literal fire tonight."

“So thankful for his safety and so sad for the victims and their families," he added.

Tim Hanrahan and Tim Higgins contributed to this article.

Write to Christina Rogers at christina.rogers@wsj.com