by Corinne Murdock | Nov 14, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Attorney General Kris Mayes has ended her investigation into president-elect Donald Trump over his speech.
Mayes began an investigation into Trump over his argument that former congresswoman Liz Cheney should have to fight in a war before advocating for bringing the U.S. into another one. Mayes claimed to the Arizona Republic that this recent change of heart from her office came from their sudden realization that Trump’s remarks were protected by the First Amendment.
During a Halloween day event in Arizona, Trump had called Cheney a “radical war hawk” and a “deranged person” whose desires for war were rooted in her lack of intimate understanding of it. The topic of her had come up after conservative pundit Tucker Carlson had asked the president-elect how he felt about Cheney campaigning against him despite her father, Dick Cheney, having been a Republican and former vice president.
“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” said Trump. “Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. They’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying ‘Oh gee, let’s send 10,000 troops into the mouths of the enemies.’ She always wanted to go to war with people.”
Cheney responded by calling Trump a “dictator” who had threatened her life.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” said Cheney. “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.”
The next day, Mayes announced her investigation into Trump over his remarks. Mayes claimed at the time that Trump’s speech may have been a death threat.
“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,” said Mayes. “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.”
Mayes made the announcement of her investigation just days before Election Day.
Although Mayes dropped her investigation into Trump’s remarks, she said her office wouldn’t be dropping its case against him and his 2020 electors, who face multiple felonies related to conspiracy and forgery. Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
“We’re going to stay focused on the case we brought,” said Mayes. “Those are serious charges, they are state charges and they are not affected one bit by Donald Trump’s reelection to the presidency.”
Mayes also claimed in a recent press conference that Trump presents a threat to the state and federal constitutions, especially the Project 2025 plan drafted by the Heritage Foundation in 2023.
“I do not believe that in electing Donald Trump Arizona voters voted to shred the U.S. and Arizona constitutions,” said Mayes. “If Donald Trump tries to do that [Project 2025], he will have to go through me first.”
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by Matthew Holloway | Nov 5, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced during Channel 12 News’ “Sunday Square-Off,” that her office is now investigating President Donald Trump’s comments about “radical war hawk,” former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). The comments took place during a Glendale appearance with Tucker Carlson.
Mayes reportedly asked investigators to determine if Trump’s rhetorical remark on Cheney’s attitude toward sending American servicemen to war qualifies as a death threat when he said, “Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Speaking with 12News, Mayes said, “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,” according to AZCentral.
“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,” she said.
During the campaign event at Glendale Stadium, Trump was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, and the topic turned to former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter’s sudden turn against him during his presidency. Trump lamented that the elder Cheney turned against him but said he understood it as a need to support his daughter.
In full context President Trump told Carlson, “Dick Cheney’s daughter is a very dumb individual. She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face. 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.’ But she’s a stupid person. And I used to have, I’d have meetings with a lot of people and she always wanted to go to war with people.”
Per Reuters, Mayes added “That’s the question, whether it did cross the line. It’s deeply troubling. It is the kind of thing that riles people up, and that makes our situation in Arizona and other states more dangerous.”
In a post to X, Cheney alluded to Trump being a “dictator” and characterized his comment with the claim, “They threaten those who speak against them with death,” and went on to call Trump a “petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Trump campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Friday statement that his remarks were misinterpreted. She said, “President Trump is 100% correct that warmongers like Liz Cheney are very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves.” She added that this “is just a desperate attempt to help out Kamala Harris’ failed campaign.”
Responding to the controversy in a post to Truth Social Trump wrote, “All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have ‘the guts’ to fight herself. It’s easy for her to talk, sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand, and let her go fight, and she’ll say, ‘No thanks!’ Her father decimated the Middle East, and other places, and got rich by doing so. He’s caused plenty of DEATH, and probably never even gave it a thought. That’s not what we want running our Country!”
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen reacted to the announcement Sunday in post to X writing, “Just learned that Kris Mayes is investigating @realDonaldTrump over what he said about Liz Cheney. First of all his comment was clearly not a threat. He said if she had to go to war instead of our kids then she would not be a warhawk. She has it completely backwards!
She should have told the media what he said was protected by the 1st amendment. Protect the Constitution instead of weaponizing your office to harrass and censure!”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
