Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday responded to former President Donald Trump‘s recent comments about Liz Cheney, in which he said the former GOP congresswoman might not be a “war hawk” if she has guns “trained on her face.”
Trump made the comments against Cheney who had endorsed Harris, the Democratic nominee, in this year’s election, during an interview with Tucker Carlson in Arizona on Thursday. The former president referred to Cheney as “a radical war hawk” who would drag the United States into conflicts across “50 different countries,” criticizing her foreign policy measures.
“Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” he added. “OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. They’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘oh, gee, we’ll, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.'”
In response to Trump’s comments, the vice president told reporters in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday that the former president “has increased his violent rhetoric…about political opponents and in great detail suggested rifles should be trained on former Representative Liz Cheney. This must be disqualifying.”
Vice President Kamala Harris is seen on November 1 in Madison, Wisconsin. Harris told reporters on Friday that former President Donald Trump’s recent attack against Liz Cheney is “disqualifying.”
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Harris, who has repeatedly warned that Trump would be “obsessed with revenge” if elected back into office, added that his latest attack on Cheney shows he is “unqualified to be president.”
“Representative Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party,” the vice president said. “Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge, and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.”
Meanwhile, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek in an emailed statement that “[Former] President Trump is 100 percent 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.”
Newsweek has emailed Trump’s campaign on Friday for additional comment.
Cheney is an outspoken critic of Trump and served as one of two Republican members on the January 6 House select committee that was tasked with investigating the U.S. Capitol riot after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an effort to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win. Trump claimed without evidence that he lost the election due to widespread voter fraud. Liz Cheney’s father, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, has also endorsed Harris over Trump in this year’s election.
Trump has characterized the Cheneys as warmongers and is critical of the former vice president’s foreign policy measures under President George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, several of Trump’s former aides have denounced his recent remarks against Liz Cheney. During an appearance on CNN News Central on Friday morning, former White House director of strategic communication Alyssa Farah Griffin said the statement was “unconscionable.”
“I don’t know how Republican leaders, many of whom served with Liz Cheney and at one point considered her a colleague and a friend, cannot denounce this,” Griffin added. “It’s dangerous and escalatory.”
Trump defended his statements in a post to Truth Social, his social media platform, Friday afternoon, and wrote: “All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have ‘the guts’ to fight herself.”
Also on Friday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her office is investigating whether or not Trump’s remarks about the former congresswoman broke the 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 said to NBC affiliate 12NEWS.
Update 11/1/24, 3:53 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
Update 11/1/24, 4:30 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information.
