Arizona Attorney General Chris Mayes said Friday that his office is investigating whether it was former President Donald Trump’s violent remarks about former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney broke the law.
“I’ve already asked my chief of the criminal division to start looking at that testimony, analyzing whether it’s a death threat under Arizona law,” Mayes, a Democrat, said during a taping of “Market Square Off” on 12NEWS in Phoenix. .
“I am not ready to say now whether that is the case or not, but it is not helpful as we prepare for our elections and make sure that we maintain peace in our polling stations and in our state. Mayes told the NBC affiliate.
Attorney General’s Office spokesman Richie Taylor confirmed to NBC News that the office is “investigating” whether Trump’s remarks violated Arizona law. NBC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
At an event with Tucker Carlson in Arizona on Thursday, Trump suggested Cheney wouldn’t be such a “war hawk” if he had “guns trained on his face.”
“He is a radical war hawk. Let’s put him there with a rifle and let him fire nine barrels at him,” Trump said. “Well, let’s see how he feels about it. You know when the guns are pointed at his face — you know, when he’s sitting in a nice building in Washington, D.C., they’re all war hawks.”
In his post on Truth Social On Friday afternoon, Trump said that Cheney “wouldn’t dare fight with himself. It’s easy for him to sit and talk away from the death scenes, but put a gun in his hand and let him go into battle and he’ll be like, “No thanks!” will say.” In a statement to reporters on Friday. Trump defended his views on Cheney, again calling him a war hawk and saying “he kills people.”
Earlier in the day, Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said Trump was “100% correct that warmongers like Liz Cheney are too quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them instead of fighting them themselves.
There is Trump intensified his violent rhetoric in the election campaign in the last month. He calls Democrats and their opponents the “enemy within” and has vowed to use the US military against American citizens. He also said during the 2024 competition can arrest political opponents.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday that what former President Trump said about Cheney should be “disqualifying.”
“He ramped up his fiery rhetoric about Donald Trump’s political opponents and suggested in detail that former Rep. Liz Cheney should be trained with rifles,” Harris told reporters after landing near Madison, Wisconsin.
“It should be a disqualification. “Anyone who wants to be president of the United States of America and uses this kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and has no right to be president,” he added.
Harris said Trump is “always out for revenge” and that he is “increasingly erratic and erratic.” “His enemy list has grown longer, his rhetoric has become more extreme, and he is less focused than ever on the needs, concerns, and issues facing the American people,” he said.
Asked to comment on Harris’ remarks, Leavitt repeated a statement he made earlier in the day.
NBC News reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the Arizona investigation.
Annemarie Bonner contributed.