Arizona prosecutor investigating Trump for saying Cheney should face gunfire
By: Andy Sullivan, Susan Heavey (Yahoo News)
Arizona prosecutor investigating Trump for saying Cheney should face gunfire
(Reuters) -Arizona's top prosecutor, a Democrat, said on Friday that her office was investigating whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump violated state law for suggesting a prominent critic should face gunfire in combat.
Trump has drawn outrage for comments he made about former lawmaker Liz Cheney at a campaign event in the battleground state of Arizona on Thursday. His campaign said the former president was criticizing Cheney as a warmonger, but critics condemned the remarks as evidence he would target his enemies if he wins next week's election against Democrat Kamala Harris.
"She's a radical war hawk," Trump said of Cheney. "Let's put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face."
Speaking to a local TV station on Friday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Trump might have violated state laws that prohibit death threats.
"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 12News.
Mayes said it was not yet clear whether Trump's comment amounted to protected free speech or a criminal threat.
"That's the question, whether it did cross the line. It's deeply troubling," Mayes said. "It is the kind of thing that riles people up, and that makes our situation in Arizona and other states more dangerous."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the probe.
The campaign previously said his remarks had been misinterpreted.
"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," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "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."
Both Vice President Harris and Cheney, a former top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives who has endorsed Harris' White House bid, denounced Trump's comments.
Harris told reporters Trump "is increasingly unstable and unhinged."
"Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president," she said in Madison, Wisconsin.
In a post on social media, Cheney said: "This is how dictators destroy free nations. 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."
During the Arizona event, Trump also criticized others who support U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.
"They're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, 'Oh, gee, well, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy,'" he said.
Trump has repeatedly talked about "the enemy from within" on the campaign trail and has vowed to prosecute political rivals, election workers, journalists and protesters, among others. He has said the military could be used against what he calls "radical left lunatics" if there is unrest on Election Day.
He also has vowed to pardon supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat in the 2020 election.
While serving in Congress during Trump's 2017-2021 presidency, Cheney pressed him to keep U.S. troops in Syria and restore harsh interrogation techniques for military detainees.
She lost her seat in Congress after helping to lead the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack. Her father, Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also refused to back Trump's third presidential run.
(Writing by Susan Heavey and Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Nandita Bose, David Ljunggre and Jasper Ward; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, William Maclean and Rosalba O'Brien)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Andy Sullivan, Susan HeaveyUpdated Fri, November 1, 2024 at 9:19 PM UTC3 min read Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways
By Andy Sullivan, Susan Heavey
(Reuters) -Arizona's top prosecutor, a Democrat, said on Friday that her office was investigating whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump violated state law for suggesting a prominent critic should face gunfire in combat.
Trump has drawn outrage for comments he made about former lawmaker Liz Cheney at a campaign event in the battleground state of Arizona on Thursday. His campaign said the former president was criticizing Cheney as a warmonger, but critics condemned the remarks as evidence he would target his enemies if he wins next week's election against Democrat Kamala Harris.
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"She's a radical war hawk," Trump said of Cheney. "Let's put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face."
Speaking to a local TV station on Friday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said Trump might have violated state laws that prohibit death threats.
"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 12News.
Mayes said it was not yet clear whether Trump's comment amounted to protected free speech or a criminal threat.
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"That's the question, whether it did cross the line. It's deeply troubling," Mayes said. "It is the kind of thing that riles people up, and that makes our situation in Arizona and other states more dangerous."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the probe.
The campaign previously said his remarks had been misinterpreted.
"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," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "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."
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Both Vice President Harris and Cheney, a former top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives who has endorsed Harris' White House bid, denounced Trump's comments.
Harris told reporters Trump "is increasingly unstable and unhinged."
"Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president," she said in Madison, Wisconsin.
In a post on social media, Cheney said: "This is how dictators destroy free nations. 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."
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During the Arizona event, Trump also criticized others who support U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.
"They're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, 'Oh, gee, well, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy,'" he said.
Trump has repeatedly talked about "the enemy from within" on the campaign trail and has vowed to prosecute political rivals, election workers, journalists and protesters, among others. He has said the military could be used against what he calls "radical left lunatics" if there is unrest on Election Day.
He also has vowed to pardon supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat in the 2020 election.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
While serving in Congress during Trump's 2017-2021 presidency, Cheney pressed him to keep U.S. troops in Syria and restore harsh interrogation techniques for military detainees.
She lost her seat in Congress after helping to lead the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack. Her father, Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also refused to back Trump's third presidential run.
(Writing by Susan Heavey and Andy Sullivan; additional reporting by Nandita Bose, David Ljunggre and Jasper Ward; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, William Maclean and Rosalba O'Brien)
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In a post on social media, Cheney said: "This is how dictators destroy free nations. 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.
the double edged sword of agitating a base of testosterone jacked morons...
this incident by an unhinged psyche is a psychological tell. trump thinks he's going to lose, again. the number and nature of his forays into the media, from now until the election is called, will become increasingly more violent and accusatory. the many months of stress about being held accountable for his assortment of criminal acts, both those he's been convicted of and those yet to be adjudicated, and the prospect of losing another election has taken it's toll on the mental functions of someone too old and unstable to be POTUS.
yeah, every day he is increasingly more unhinged than the last - I seriously hope it's going to be so many votes in Kamala's favor - a true landslide - to erase any doubt - electoral college votes too
that won't matter to trump or his mentally defective cult. they're already claiming the election is rigged ...
What's to "investigate"? His speech was probably recorded which is the evidence needed and is publicly death wishing a person not actionable? Would the AG even be "investigating" if it were not already an offence in Arizona.
All things considered , she would do better in this scenario than Trump would.
Why is he confusing Liz with Shotgun Dick?
""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," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "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."
'"They're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, 'Oh, gee, well, let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy,'" he said."
Any vet - you know, the ones Trump so hates - would agree with that. It's hardly shocking; not even surprising. Twisting this into some 'firing squad' siren is just another grandstanding moment. Why doesn't the left scream about an enthusiastic Musk or an unchained Kennedy running a federal office? That's enough to scare anybody.
Good point, both Musk and Kennedy with the indicated powers would be a nightmare scenario for this nation.
However, all that is stopped dead in its tracks if Trump is not elected. Thus the focus should be on Trump.
Meh, this will go nowhere. Even very liberal pundits are calling this to task, stating that the lying by the media is very wrong and this is not what Trump said at all.
So a Democrat state Attorney General gets in the news. I wonder what her political ambition is.