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Harris condemns Trump's comments on Cheney, says they are 'disqualifying'

Arizona's attorney general opened an investigation into Trump's comments, but some legal scholars said he clearly did not threaten Cheney.

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WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday condemned former President Donald Trump's comments that former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney should face armed combat over her support for U.S. wars abroad, saying it was “disqualifying” for the presidency .

“He has increased his violent rhetoric – Donald Trump – against political opponents and suggested in great detail that guns should be pointed at former Rep. Liz Cheney. “That has to be disqualifying,” she told reporters before a rally in Wisconsin.

Harris' criticism came as Arizona's attorney general said she had launched a preliminary investigation into the comments – and some legal scholars said they were clearly not threats.

“There is no real threat here. Not a call to threaten violence,” Anthony Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said in a social media post. “His statement was vile, repugnant and corrosive to our politics, but it is protected speech.”

More: Cheney slams Trump over his “war hawk” comment

Trump made his comments Thursday in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at a campaign event in Glendale, Arizona.

“She is a radical war hawk. “Let’s put them there with a gun that shoots at them with nine barrels, okay?” he said. “Let's see what she thinks, you know, with the guns pointed at her face.”

Harris said any candidate who uses this type of “violent” rhetoric is “clearly disqualified and unfit to be president.”

Trump later clarified: “All I say about Liz Cheney is that she's a warmonger, and a stupid one at that, but she wouldn't have the courage to fight herself,” he said on his social media Platform, Truth Social.

More: Liz Cheney helps Kamala Harris expand her base, Donald Trump doubles down

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump spokeswoman, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Trump's words were “taken out of context.”

“President Trump has stated CLEARLY that warmongers like Liz Cheney are quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them rather than go into battle themselves,” Leavitt wrote.

More: Trump promises to take action against his enemies if elected. Meet two enforcers willing to carry this out

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, told NBC affiliate 12News on Friday that her office would investigate whether comments made by Trump about Cheney qualify as a death threat under state law.

National security lawyer Bradley Moss said in a post on X that it was clear Trump “did not make a death threat.” “I want him to lose badly and be brought to justice in his pending court cases. But come on.”

Cheney, one of Trump's most vocal critics, supported Harris and campaigned alongside her in recent weeks.

She previously served as vice chair of the now-dissolved House Select Committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and has condemned the former president's actions that day.

In June, Trump amplified social media posts calling for Cheney, a former State Department official and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, to be publicly tried in a military court on treason charges. Treason carries the death penalty.

Contributors: Bart Jansen, Josh Meyer

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