While on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris came to the defense of one of the state's most famous Trump critics, Liz Cheney, condemning former President Donald Trump's comment that the former Wyoming congresswoman should have guns "trained on her face" as "disqualifying."

What You Need To Know

  • Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday while on the campaign trail in Wisconsin that former President Donald Trump's comment that the former Wyoming congresswoman should have guns "trained on her face" should be "disqualifying"

  • Cheney is one of the most outspoken Trump critics in the Republican Party, voting to impeach him over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and serving on the panel investigating it

  • On Thursday night in Arizona at an event with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump called Cheney "a deranged person" and a "radical war hawk," he mused: "Let's put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let's see how she feels about it"

  • Cheney responded on social media Friday morning, writing: "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"

"He has increased his violent rhetoric, Donald Trump has, about political opponents and in great detail, in great detail, suggested rifles should be trained on former Rep. Liz Cheney," the vice president said. "This must be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president."

Cheney is one of the most outspoken Trump critics in the Republican Party, speaking out against his false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

She was ousted from House Republican leadership in 2021 after voting to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 attack, and lost a Republican primary to represent Wyoming in 2022 after serving on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, one of just two Republicans on the panel.

The former Wyoming congresswoman, who endorsed the vice president and campaigned with her in battleground states, is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who also endorsed Harris. 

Harris on Friday called her a "patriot" who "has shown herself to be a patriot," while making the case that Trump's comments show he does not have the fitness to hold office: "Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge and is increasingly unstable and unhinged."

"America deserves better than what Donald Trump is offering," Harris said in Wisconsin on Friday. "America deserves a president who understands our role and responsibility to our people and to the rest of the world to be a model."

Harris urged any voters who have yet to cast their ballots to consider "who's gonna be sitting in the Oval Office on Jan. 20."

"Either you're going to have Donald Trump there, stewing over his enemies list, or I will be there working hard on your behalf on my to-do list," she said. "That is the choice, among many, that is at stake in this election. And I would be proud to earn the vote of the American people, and I do intend to win."

On Thursday night in Arizona at an event with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Trump called Cheney "a deranged person" and a "radical war hawk" and mused: "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 ... 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.'"

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." On social media on Friday, Trump doubled down.

"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," he wrote. "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!'"

Cheney responded on social media Friday morning, writing: "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."

In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday, Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said Trump is "all-consumed by his grievances, the people who he disagrees with."

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

Arizona's attorney general told a local NBC affiliate Friday that he's probing whether Trump's comment could be construed as 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," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told KPNX. "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."

Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.