Donald Trump has set off a fresh firestorm after suggesting former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney should have guns pointed at her face, prompting vice president Kamala Harris to declare that such violent rhetoric should disqualify him from the presidency.

The remarks were made during an onstage interview in Arizona with sacked former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, less than a day after Trump controversially vowed to protect women “whether they like it or not”.

In a lengthy riff about Cheney – the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney – Trump told the audience: “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 — you know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building, saying, ‘Oh, gee, well, let’s send, let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.’”

Amid the pre-election backlash, the Trump campaign put out a statement saying that he was simply assailing Cheney’s hawkish foreign policy, branding the response as “the continuation of the latest fake media outrage days before the election in a blatant attempt to interfere on behalf of Kamala Harris.“

The former president also doubled down on social media, explaining that: “all I’m saying is that she is a War Hawk and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have the guts to fight herself.“

However, speaking to reporters in Wisconsin today, Harris hit out at Trump, saying he had “increased his violent rhetoric against political opponents” and “in great detail, suggested rifles should be trained on former representative Liz Cheney.”

“This must be disqualifying,” she said. “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.

“Representative Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting countries above parties,” she added. “Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy is permanently out for revenge and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.“

Cheney was part of the committee that investigated Trump’s role in the US Capitol attack of January 6, 2021 – a move that resulted in the former Congresswoman being ostracised from her party, and which eventually contributed to Cheney losing her Wyoming seat to a Trump-endorsed candidate.

She and her father have since endorsed Harris – someone who the Congresswoman once described as a dangerous radical – saying she decided to “put country over party.” Cheney and other anti-Trump Republicans have since been helping Harris woo more right-leaning voters who may be weary of a second Trump presidency.