Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin late Saturday fired back at Donald Trump, calling the Republican nominee an “authoritarian, life-long liberal.”
“Yes you’ve never heard of me because while you were harassing women at beauty pageants, I was fighting terrorists abroad,” McMullin tweeted to Trump.
McMullin also said in a tweet that Trump “disrespects life, liberty & equality.”
“We can’t trust you on [Supreme Court] justices,” he added.
{mosads}Trump in an interview late last week said McMullin, a former CIA officer, could jeopardize his candidacy by winning Utah.
“I love the people of Utah. I have great relationships in Utah. Now if for some reason we lose Utah, that could have a very devastating impact on the overall,” Trump told Fox News’s Bret Baier.
“If they go enough for this character that’s running all over the state, and we lose the state of Utah, that’s devastating.”
McMullin said late Saturday that he is “earning” Utahans’ and other Americans’ votes, while Trump thinks he’s “entitled” to them.
Trump also said in the Fox interview that McMullin was a “puppet” of Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, a vocal Trump opponent.
Kristol also responded late Saturday, tweeting that Trump is “helping Evan McMullin win Utah.”
Trump leads McMullin by 6 points in a five-way race in Utah, according to a RealClearPolitics average of state polling. Trump leads the field with 31 percent, while McMullin and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton follow with 25 percent each. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson has 7 percent, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein has 1 percent.