By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump called former lawmaker Liz Cheney “a radical war hawk” and suggested she herself should face combat with guns trained on her, drawing condemnation from critics who said his comments showed he would target his enemies in office if he wins the presidential election.
Former President Trump, who faces Democratic U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s election, also called Cheney on Thursday “a very dumb individual” and noted that she and her father, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, refused to back his third presidential run.
“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face,” Trump told supporters at a campaign event with former Fox News television host Tucker Carlson in Arizona.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to investigate or prosecute his political rivals, including Cheney, as well as election workers, journalists and left-wing Americans, among others, and has said the military could be used against what he calls “radical left lunatics” if there is unrest on Election Day.
One of the most high-profile Republicans to turn against Trump, Cheney has endorsed Harris in the Nov. 5 contest, saying she crossed party lines to put the country before politics and calling Trump a “danger.”
“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,” Cheney responded in a post on X on Friday, adding “#Womenwillnotbesilenced.”
Reuters was unable to reach representatives for Trump’s campaign for comment before publication.
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt subsequently said: “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.”
Once one of the party’s top leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives, Cheney lost her seat in Congress after backing Trump’s second impeachment for his role in his supporters’ Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol and then helping to lead the investigation into the attack.
She has since campaigned with Harris, who must win over Republicans and independents — particularly in seven key U.S. swing states — in order to win.
Democrats largely vilified Dick Cheney for his bullish defense of the Iraq War under former Republican President George W. Bush but warmly embraced him at a congressional commemoration one year after the Jan. 6 attack. Bush does not plan to make an endorsement in the race.
(This story has been corrected to clarify that Trump’s comments on Cheney facing gunfire were in the context of a combat situation, not a firing squad, in paragraph 1)
(Writing by Susan Heavey, Editing by William Maclean)
