GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Former President Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep. Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a "war hawk" and suggesting she might not be as willing to send troops to fight if she had guns pointed at her.
During an event in Glendale, Arizona, with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the Republican presidential candidate was asked if it is weird to see Cheney campaign against him. Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump called Cheney "a deranged person," then added: "But the reason she couldn't stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. If it were up to her we'd be in 50 different countries."
After calling Cheney "a very dumb individual," he said: "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.
"You know they're all war hawks when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, oh gee, well let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy," Trump said.
After Harris' campaign and other Trump critics on social media pounced on the quote, Trump's campaign responded that he "was talking about how Liz Cheney wants to send America's sons and daughters to fight in wars despite never being in a war herself."