Trump advocates ‘shooting nine barrels at’ Liz Cheney

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday aimed violent rhetoric at former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, criticizing her past support for military action and saying she would face “nine barrels shooting at her” as a result, his latest plea for violence against his rivals.

“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her there with a gun while nine barrels shoot at her, okay? And let’s see how she feels about, you know, having the guns pointed at her face,” the former president and convicted felon said at an event in Glendale, Arizona, moderated by commentator Tucker Carlson.

Cheney, a former member from Wyoming and former chairman of the House GOP Conference, was vice chairman of the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. More recently, Cheney has endorsed and campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

One of the few Republicans in Congress to ever criticize Trump, Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, did not hold back in her response, posted to X, formerly known on Twitter.

“This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten with death those who speak out against them,” Cheney wrote. “We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vengeful, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”

Trump, who was found liable for sexual assault by a civil jury in New York last year, and his surrogates have criticized Democrats for such descriptions of him, blaming them for two failed assassination attempts and an escalation of violent rhetoric.

But Trump has repeatedly suggested and outright called for violence against his political enemies, including encouraging supporters at rallies to “kick the bucket” of protesters.

In recent weeks, he has floated the idea that, if re-elected, he would send federal law enforcement forces and active-duty U.S. military troops to round up some of his political and legal enemies, including California Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff, a former Trump impeachment manager who is on track to easily win a Senate seat.

The former president has also attacked former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, his top uniformed military adviser, saying he should be charged with treason and execution.

In a September 2023 social media post, Trump took umbrage with a phone call Milley had with senior Chinese officials after the January 6 uprising to assure them that the US was stable. “This is an act so egregious that in the past it would have been punishable by death!” Trump wrote about Milley in September 2023.

Milley, still chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told CBS News at the time in response to Trump’s call for his execution that “I am a soldier,” adding: “I have been faithful and loyal to the Constitution of the United States. -half a year, and my family and I sacrificed a lot for this country, my mother and father before them.

“And you know, as much as these comments are directed at me, it is also directed at the institution of the military, and we are 2.1 million people in uniform and the American people can take it to the bank that all of us, every one of us, from private to general, was loyal to that Constitution,” Milley said.

Milley also claimed that “zero” inappropriate or treasonous things were said during that January 2021 phone call with the Chinese officials.

But in a sobering revelation, the country’s then-top military official said he had been forced to beef up his security.

“I have taken adequate security measures,” he told CBS. “I wish these comments hadn’t been made. But they were. And I will take appropriate measures to ensure my safety and that of my family.”

Harris was on the campaign trail Thursday, repeating her warnings that another Trump term would erode the country’s democratic principles and institutions. Her campaign minced no words in response to its call for Cheney’s execution.

“Donald Trump is so preoccupied with his grievances, he treats the people he disagrees with and who he believes are against him politically as enemies. He has spent the past month talking about the ‘enemy from within’ the United States,” said Ian Sams, senior adviser and spokesperson for the campaign.

“And now he’s going after Liz Cheney with this dangerous, violent rhetoric. I mean, think about the contrast between these two candidates,” Sams added. “You have Donald Trump talking about sending a prominent Republican to the firing squad, and you have Vice President Harris talking about sending one to her Cabinet. That is the difference in this race.”