Arizona’s Attorney General Kris Mayes on Tuesday said she has ended an investigation into Donald Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney being a war hawk, stating that the comments were protected speech.
Mayes told reporters at the Arizona Republic that the comment “very likely may have been an effort to intimidate Cheney” but the investigation showed there was “no reasonable likelihood that we could obtain a conviction for Trump’s statements.”
“We think it’s equally likely a reasonable person could conclude Trump was discussing war, and Liz Cheney not wanting to go to war,” she said.
In speaking to Tucker Carlson during a Halloween day campaign event, Trump said Cheney might be not so inclined to advocate for war if she experienced it herself.
“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” Trump said at a campaign event. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Many in the media conflated the situation, stating that Trump had threatened her, an assessment Cheney agreed with.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” Cheney said. “They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country