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

CNN

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 be fired upon 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 goes 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.

The Trump campaign on Friday said the former president’s comments were about people who are “very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves.”

“President Trump was clearly explaining that warmongers like Liz Cheney are very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to CNN.

Trump said Thursday 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.

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 details.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

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