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    • Kris Mayes ends investigation into Trump’s ‘9 barrels’ comment about Liz Cheney
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    Kris Mayes ends investigation into Trump’s ‘9 barrels’ comment about Liz Cheney

    Harry Posted on

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    Arizona prosecutors have concluded their brief investigation into comments Donald Trump made before the election that left him wondering how former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming would feel. if the guns were “pointed in his face”“

    Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said Tuesday that her office’s investigation determined that the comment did not meet the legal standard to be considered a threat, in part because of the First Amendment’s protections for political speech.

    But Mayes himself still thinks these look like threats.

    “These were disgusting statements,” Mayes said. “They were very over-the-top and threatening in nature. That’s not what we want in our presidential candidates.”

    Mayes met with reporters in his Phoenix office to discuss his plans for next year, when the second half of his term coincides with Republican President-elect Trump’s second term. Mayes was elected in 2022 and will likely seek another four-year term as attorney general in 2026.

    He said Trump’s election would not affect his office’s investigation into the 2020 election interference case that has led to charges against many people in Trump’s orbit. And he vowed to oppose Trump if he implements any “unconstitutional” executive orders while in office.

    Mayes also foreshadowed the imminent filing of at least one lawsuit seeking to use the state’s public nuisance laws to stop the pumping of unregulated groundwater in the state. The remark sparked scrutiny and impeachment threats from Republican lawmakers. earlier this year.

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    Trump criticizes AZ father Liz Cheney’s conversation with Tucker Carlson

    The former president and current candidate attacks Liz Cheney’s character and her relationship with Dick Cheney in a conversation with Tucker Carlson on October 31, 2024.

    2020 election case ‘Not affected one bit by Donald Trump’s re-election’

    “I have absolutely no intention of dropping the fake voter case,” Mayes said. “The grand jury found that 18 individuals violated multiple Arizona laws by engaging in a plot to overthrow American democracy. These are serious charges. These are state charges. And they are not affected in the slightest by the re-election of Donald Trump to the presidency.”

    Multiple defense attorneys for people charged in the case said: Trump’s political fate shows Arizonans are tired of weaponizing prosecutors’ officesbut their views did not influence Mayes.

    The majority of Arizona voters who supported Trump this year will not influence Mayes’ approach to lawmakers’ defense deals or agreements. Ongoing investigation into efforts to obstruct Joe Biden’s 2020 victorysaid Mayes.

    “You know, we intend to continue down this path, because there is nothing more important in my mind than preserving our democracy and supporting the rule of law,” Mayes said. he said. “And this case will continue until the Legislature decides that fraud is no longer a crime, conspiracy is no longer a crime, forgery is no longer a crime.”

    Mayes says he has no regrets office’s decision to urge grand jurors not to indict Trumphe stated that this was “something anyone who says I’m going overboard here should think about.” At the time and again Tuesday, Mayes and his aides said it was due to federal prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigation.

    Smith is now taking steps to close the caseA judge suspended all deadlines as a result, USA TODAY reported.

    Mayes tries to block Trump’s orders

    Mayes thanked election workers and law enforcement and said, “As always, Arizona had a free, fair, safe and successful election this month.” He said this was despite bomb threats being made to 10 districts in the state.

    He then gave a warning to the incoming Trump administration.

    “The president-elect has signaled, through Project 2025, his intention to engage in what I consider to be a series of unconstitutional executive orders and proposed legislation,” he said as he stacked two three-ring binders on a conference table. Among the files, he said, was a thick copy of Project 2025 “filled with 900 pages of unconstitutional provisions.”

    Project 2025 is a broad policy book from the conservative think tank. Heritage Foundation. Many of its writers have ties to Trumpbut in September he tried to distance himself from this, saying he had never read the plan. Although Heritage has created similar plans over the past four decades, Democrats have sought to use its proposals against Trump and keep him out of the White House.

    Mayes reiterated his campaign view Tuesday but acknowledged that any executive order based on Project 2025 is hypothetical. The New York Times reported Trump’s new chief of staff tells donors he plans executive orders on first day of administrationAs is common for presidents, however, he did not detail specific policy goals.

    He has said he will stand against any attempt to revive the Comstock Act, which he said could prevent abortion pills and “even birth control” from reaching Arizona. According to health policy organization KFF, the 1873 law prohibits the sending of obscene materials and items used for abortion purposes through the mail. He said he would fight any effort to “attack” the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

    “It is my job to protect both Arizona and the federal Constitution,” Mayes said. “And I will do that. I do not believe that Arizona voters voted to tear up the U.S. and Arizona constitutions when they elected Donald Trump. And if Donald Trump tries to do that, he will have to go through me first.”

    Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, created the DACA program through executive order in 2012, which allowed immigrant children to avoid deportation. Asked why a new president couldn’t use the same executive authority to rescind that order, Mayes offered a partial policy argument.

    “I think DACA has constitutional underpinnings,” he said. “Secondly, I would say that DACA has essentially become an overwhelmingly supported provision.”

    The Trump campaign did not respond to two requests for comment Tuesday.

    Mayes says he hopes Trump changes course opposed bipartisan immigration bill, and congressional Republicans were killed last yearand that he would assign staff at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to help police drug smuggling along Arizona’s southern border with Mexico.

    Mayes, who is campaigning with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, said her office has been reviewing Project 2025 for months. Although he thought Harris would win, his office was preparing for any election outcome.

    “He was hoping for the best and planning for the worst,” Mayes said.

    Election 2024: See Arizona election results

    Mayes to end investigation into Trump’s comments about Cheney

    Trump’s pre-election blitz included an Oct. 31 visit in Glendale with former journalist and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson.

    Trump said Cheney, an outspoken critic, was a war hawk who would send Americans into war. Trump said at the event: “Let’s put him in there with a rifle and have nine barrels shooting at him. OK? Let’s see what he thinks about it. You know, when the guns are pointed in his face.”

    Cheney said in a post on social media that the comment “is an example of how dictators destroy free nations.” They threaten with death those who speak against them.

    Mayes said he believed the comment was a threat that “most likely” was an attempt to intimidate Cheney. But citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Mayes said his investigation showed “there is no reasonable likelihood that we will obtain a conviction based on Trump’s statements.”

    “We think it is equally likely that a reasonable person would conclude that Trump is discussing war and that Liz Cheney does not want to go to war,” Mayes said.

    Mayes to sue over land leases and groundwater use

    While Mayes could devote some of his office’s resources to countering Trump if necessary, he is also looking at plans that could face opposition from the larger Republican majority in the Arizona Legislature.

    Mayes hinted he will do so in the next few weeks Fulfill promise to use state nuisance law As a means of preventing unregulated use of groundwater. used the law While trying to stop a mine in Chino Valley last yearHowever The land was sold before the case progressed.

    He said Tuesday that the Saudi Arabian company Fondomonte “will be the target of our checkerboard of private and state trust land leases… our nuisance lawsuits.”

    Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs Some but not all of the company’s leases on government land were canceled or allowed to expire. Early cancellation of lease agreements without reason may mean financial penalties to the state. Mayes said he believes Hobbs should cancel the other leases even if it means a financial cost.

    Formerly Republic of Arizona He reported how Fondomonte and other companies leased state trust land at below-market prices in areas where groundwater was not regulatedThis means they can use unlimited amounts for farming.

    Mayes is also targeting a Minnesota-based dairy company that some critics say has been a target. Life is changing for those living in rural southeastern Arizona And groundwater depletion, affecting nearby wells.

    “I was dead serious when I talked about using nuisance (law) to stop the Saudis from starving our groundwater,” he said. “And I’m dead serious about using nuisance legislation to stop Riverview Dairy from destroying the Cochise County economy. So watch this space.”

    Mayes accused the Legislature of not doing more to reform groundwater management laws.

    “I will do everything I can to protect our rural groundwater,” he said, “but we need the Legislature to get off its butt and help.”

    Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at: [email protected] or 480-416-5669.

    Harry
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