Arizona’s Attorney General is now investigating Trump’s 'death threat' against Liz Cheney

01 November 2024

On Thursday night, former President Donald Trump made a comment about former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) staring down multiple rifle barrels during a conversation with far-right pundit Tucker Carlson. That comment could result in a criminal indictment.

Phoenix-based NBC affiliate KPNX is now reporting that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) has opened a criminal investigation into whether the ex-president's remarks could be classified as a death threat. Mayes told local reporters that her office is taking Trump's comment seriously.

"I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona's laws," Mayes said on Friday. "I'm not prepared now to say whether it was or it wasn't, but it is not helpful as we prepare for our election and as we try to make sure that we keep the peace at our polling places and in our state."

Arizona's state statute on death threats stipulates that anyone who "threatens or intimidates by word or conduct" can be prosecuted for a Class 1 misdemeanor or Class 6 felony. The former can carry a maximum fine of $2,500 and/or up to six months in prison. The latter can carry a sentence of anywhere from four months to 5.75 years in prison, along with fines and/or probation.

While speaking to Carlson in Glendale, Trump called Cheney a "radical war hawk," and envisioned a scenario in which the former House Republican Conference chair was being shot at.

"Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?" Trump said. "Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face."

The ex-president's supporters have insisted that his comments should be interpreted as a signal that he would embrace an anti-war agenda in a second term, and that he was criticizing Cheney's foreign policy stances. But CNN host Jim Acosta countered that narrative on Friday, saying the former president was plainly expressing an "execution fantasy."

"Donald Trump talking about executing Liz Cheney — and let's just be clear: when you talk about nine barrels, I'm sorry for all the folks out there who want to dance on the head of a pin, that is what he is talking about. An execution fantasy," Acosta said.

Cheney was voted out of office in 2022 following her public role in the January 6 Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. She has since become one of Vice President Kamala Harris' top Republican campaign surrogates. Despite her support of the Democratic nominee, Cheney was long considered to be one of the most conservative members of Congress, with FiveThirtyEight finding that she voted in line with Trump's policy positions nearly 93% of the time.

Click here to read KPNX's article in full.

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