Did Ward hear McCain hanging remark?
- A speaker at a May 5 %22Liberty On Tap%22 event said Sen. John McCain should be executed for treason.
- Also attending the gathering were Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs and state Sen. Kelli Ward.
- Ward%2C who is considering running against McCain%2C did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
State Sen. Kelli Ward, who is considering a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. John McCain, was at the Tempe event where the founder of the Oath Keepers group called for McCain to be tried for treason and executed by hanging.
Ward, a Lake Havasu City Republican, did not respond to The Arizona Republic's questions and requests for comment, sent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, about her attendance at the May 5 "Liberty On Tap" gathering at which Stewart Rhodes of the pro-Constitution Oath Keepers made the comments about McCain, R-Ariz.
However, a series of photos taken at the event and posted on Facebook included shots of Ward with Arizona Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, who spoke at the event.
Biggs was invited to speak to the group about his book in which he argues against the states calling a constitutional convention. In the photos from the event, Ward is holding Biggs' book, "The Con of the Con-Con." Other photos show Biggs, Rhodes and former Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack addressing the event, which was organized by the Arizona Liberty Caucus.
In a video released by the liberal group People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch project, Rhodes called McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, a traitor to the Constitution.
"He would deny you the right for trial to jury, but we will give him a trial for jury, and then after we convict him, he should be hung by the neck until dead," Rhodes says in the video.
In a Friday morning interview on Phoenix radio station KFYI-AM (550), McCain was asked about Rhodes' remarks.
"I'm not so much offended as sad that people in a free and open society, where we're free to agree and disagree, ... to say that someone should be hung and killed," McCain said. "By the way, my family has spent a lot of time serving this country. My father, my grandfather, in fact, all the way back to the Revolutionary War. I'm proud to have one son in the Navy and I'm not ashamed to tell you now that my other son just returned from Afghanistan a couple of days ago, serving over there.
"So I just have to say to that man, 'Let's show some respect for each other. We can disagree, but I don't understand that depth, that you would want someone to be killed, because we disagree on issues.'"
Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, a longtime ally of McCain's, issued a written statement condemning Rhodes' comments.
"That kind of rhetoric is shameful and offensive to all of us who have served our nation in uniform," Romley said. "The fact that two Arizona state senators were in the room at the time and said nothing is highly disappointing."
Biggs told The Republic on Tuesday that he wasn't familiar with the Oath Keepers organization and didn't know Rhodes. Biggs said he disagreed with Rhodes' remarks about McCain, but didn't think it was his place to interfere with Rhodes' "free-speech rights."
Earlier this month, Ward appeared at Arizona Freedom Fest, a libertarian-oriented event in Kingman. She posted pictures from the event on her Facebook page. According to the Oath Keepers website, Rhodes and Mack were to speak at that event, too.