Trump says ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should be fired upon in escalation of violent rhetoric against his opponents

By Eric Bradner, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump said former Rep. Liz Cheney is a “war hawk” who should be fired upon, as he raged against one of his most prominent intra-party critics while campaigning Thursday night in Arizona.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” the former president said at a campaign event in Glendale with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Trump also hurled insults at Cheney, once the third-ranking Republican in House leadership, calling her “very dumb,” a “stupid person” and “the moron.”

Trump’s suggestion that Cheney should face gunfire represents an escalation of the violent language he has used to target his political foes. And it comes days before an election in which the former president — who never accepted his 2020 loss — has already undermined public confidence. In recent weeks, he has also suggested a military crackdown on political opponents he has described as “the enemy within.”

Cheney is perhaps the most vocal Republican critic of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his role in his supporters’ January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. She played a leading role on the House select committee that investigated the attack, and later was ousted from her deep-red Wyoming House seat by a Trump-backed primary opponent in 2022.

Cheney responded to Trump’s comments overnight, saying: “This is how dictators destroy free nations.”

In a post on X, the former congresswoman went on to say: “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

In recent weeks, Cheney has campaigned alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, urging Republicans to set aside party differences to back the Democrat and reject a candidate she says poses a threat to democracy.

Harris, who told reporters traveling with her Friday that she hadn’t spoken with the former congresswoman since the comment, said anyone who uses such rhetoric “is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, on Friday said that her office is investigating whether Trump’s comments are a death threat under state law.

“I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s laws,” Mayes told Arizona station 12 News.

“I’m not prepared now to say whether it was or it wasn’t, but it is not helpful as we prepare for our election and as we try to make sure that we keep the peace at our polling places and in our state,” she added.

Following outrage over the remark, the Trump campaign on Friday issued a statement, which it later elaborated on, defending the former president.

“President Trump is 100% correct that warmongers like Liz Cheney are very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves. This is the continuation of the latest fake media outrage days before the election in a blatant attempt to interfere on behalf of Kamala Harris,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

Dick Cheney’s Harris support surprised Trump

On Thursday, Trump also told Carlson he was surprised former Vice President Dick Cheney also endorsed Harris because he had pardoned Cheney’s former chief of staff Scooter Libby, who was convicted of perjury in 2007.

“I don’t blame him for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter’s a very dumb individual — very dumb,” Trump said.

Trump said Cheney is a “stupid person” and claimed that when the Wyoming Republican was in House Republican leadership, “she always wanted to go to war with people.”

“You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying … ‘Let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy,’” he said.

The office of former President George W. Bush, in whose administration Dick Cheney served as vice president and Liz Cheney worked in the State Department, declined to comment about Trump’s remarks.

Trump continued his attacks Friday, calling Liz Cheney a “disgrace” and saying, “If she had to do it herself and she had to face the consequences of battle, she wouldn’t be doing it.”

Long history of violent rhetoric

Trump’s use of violent language dates back to his first presidential campaign, in 2015 and 2016, when he suggested a heckler deserved to be “roughed up” and said he’d like to punch another in the face.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote in his memoir that while in office, Trump raised the idea of shooting protesters who took to the streets around the White House after the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked, according to Esper.

He began his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination by telling the Conservative Political Action Conference gathering, “I am your retribution.” Days later, he said at a rally in Waco, Texas, that the 2024 election would be “the final battle.”

And throughout his campaign, he has described those convicted for their actions during the Capitol riot as “hostages.”

Harris has pointed to Trump’s actions and rhetoric — including in a speech she delivered this week from the Ellipse in Washington, the same site where Trump delivered his January 6, 2021, speech — as she tries to court independents and moderate Republicans.

“Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy from within.’ This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better,” Harris said in her Tuesday night remarks. “This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Jamie Gangel, Kristen Holmes and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

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