Right-wing pundit Megyn Kelly came to Donald Trump’s defense over a controversial remark in which he seemed to suggest that Liz Cheney should face a firing squad. Kelly blamed the media for distorting the former president’s ostensibly threatening comment.
In an X post on Friday, Kelly shared her interpretation of what Trump meant when he said that he was curious to know how the Republican former congresswoman, who has endorsed his opponent Kamala Harris, would feel when “the guns are trained at her face.” Kelly’s post referenced an article from Mediaite about the remark.
“Look at the dishonesty,” Kelly wrote. “Trump says Liz Cheney is a war monger who isn’t the one endangered by her pro-war decisions. Says let’s see her stare down the danger she wants for our kids - and this ‘reporter’ suggests he’s ‘darkly floating’ her execution.”
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Kelly’s defense was echoed by a Friday release from Trump’s campaign.
“The press has been disgracefully covering these remarks by saying that President Trump suggested that Liz Cheney should be put in front of a ‘firing squad,’” it reads. “Are these reporters malicious or dumb? President Trump was clearly describing a combat zone.”
Trump’s comment came at a campaign event in Arizona Thursday, as he was criticizing Cheney’s stances on keeping troops in Iraq and Syria. After referring to Cheney as a “radical war hawk” and “dumb as a rock,” Trump’s rhetoric took a violent turn.
“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her,” he said. “Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has been an ardent critic of Trump since the Jan. 6 insurrection. Her father has also opposed Trump and said he will vote for Harris, despite being a Republican.
Liz Cheney slammed Trump and suggested his comment was a death threat in a Friday X post.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations,” she wrote. “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.”
