Harris condemns Trump for saying Republican critic Cheney should have rifles 'shooting at her'
Kamala Harris has said Donald Trump's comments about how a prominent Republican critic should have rifles "shooting at her" were grounds for disqualifying him from the presidential election race.
Trump made the comments about former Representative and Republican Liz Cheney, who has campaigned extensively with Harris ahead of Tuesday's election.
He said in an interview on Thursday: "If it were up to her we’d be in 50 different countries. She’s a radical war hawk.
"Let’s put her with the 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."
Harris said the comments marked an increase in the former president's "violent rhetoric".
She said: “His enemies list has grown longer. His rhetoric has grown more extreme, and he is even less focused than before on the needs and the concerns and the challenges facing the American people.”
Harris went on to say Trump's criticism of Cheney "must be disqualifying".
Cheney responded on Friday in a post on X, which 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.”
Trump has claimed the comments were misinterpreted, and said he was arguing she was a warmonger but would not support military intervention if she had to fight herself. He reiterated his point at a rally on Friday.
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“If you gave Liz Cheney a gun and put her into battle, facing the other side with the guns pointing at her, she wouldn’t have the courage and the strength or the stamina to even look the enemy in the eye,” he said.
A spokesperson for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said she was “looking into” whether Trump's comments broke state law.
Harris' reaction comes just days prior to the US presidential election. Trump and Harris have focused their final efforts on swing states, with both nominees hosting rallies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Friday.
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