Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday reiterated “the danger and threat that Donald Trump poses to America and the fact that he is unfit to serve” when asked about criticism of her rhetoric by Republican leaders.

“Well, listen, we all need to speak out against any form of political violence, and I am very clear about that. No one should be a victim of violence,” she told reporters, according to a press release.

“But the American people deserve to be presented with facts and the truth. And the fact and the truth is that some of the people closest to Donald Trump when he was president were generals, including most recently John Kelly, a four-star Marine. In general, we have been very clear about the danger and threat that Donald Trump represents America and the fact that he is unfit to serve. And the American people deserve to hear that and know that,” the vice president continued.

Her campaign initially went quiet after a call from Republican congressional leaders for her to stop using “dangerous rhetoric,” such as referring to Trump as a “fascist.”

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., bottom inset, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., top inset, asked Vice President Kamala Harris to stop her “dangerous rhetoric.” (Reuters)

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released a relatively rare joint statement Friday, demanding that Harris stop using such rhetoric and reminding her of the two recent assassination attempts Trump.

“To label a political opponent as ‘fascist’ risks inviting another potential murderer to try to rob voters of their choice before Election Day,” Republican leaders said in the statement, less than two weeks before the election .

Harris’ campaign initially declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital.

“Vice President Harris may want the American people to entrust her with the sacred duty of executive power. But first she must abandon the base and irresponsible rhetoric that endangers both American lives and institutions,” Johnson and McConnell wrote.

“We have both been briefed on the ongoing and persistent threats against former President Donald Trump by adversaries of the United States, and we call on the Vice President to take these threats seriously, stop escalating the threat environment and ensure that President Trump has the necessary resources to be protected from these threats,” they said.

The statement noted that there have been two assassination attempts against Trump in recent months, noting that “in the weeks since that second sobering memory, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States has only fanned the flames under a seething cauldron of fire. political hostility.”

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

During a town hall on CNN this week, Harris told host Anderson Cooper that she believes Trump is a fascist.

‘Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” she told Cooper when asked if she agreed with retired General Mark Milley, who described Trump as “fascist to the core” in journalist Bob Woodward’s latest book.

Cooper noted that Harris had cited Milley’s quotes about Trump in the past.

Harris further pointed to new interviews with Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly in The New York Times, in which he said Trump “certainly falls under the general definition of fascist.”

Kelly further claimed that Trump once told him that “Hitler did some good things too.”

Trump has denied saying this.

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A new poll has found that former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a dead heat ahead of Election Day. (AP/Alex Brandon/Mike Stewart)

According to the Kelly interview, he felt the need to speak out because of a recent comment Trump made in an interview on Fox News.

During a conversation with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump was asked about his concerns about Election Day “chaos.” The host noted a recent plot by an Afghan refugee that was foiled.

“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people who have come in and are destroying our country and totally destroying our country by the way. The cities, the villages, they’re being overrun,” Trump began.

“But I don’t think they have the problem in terms of Election Day. I think the bigger problem is the people on the inside. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left-wing lunatics,” he said. “It should be handled very easily by, if necessary, the National Guard or, if it’s really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”

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Former President Trump raised his fist and shouted “fight” at the crowd after surviving an assassination attempt in July. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Harris’ campaign has since seized on the comment.

According to Johnson and McConnell, “her latest and most reckless invocations of the 20th century’s darkest evil seem to dare to boil over.” The vice president’s words sound more like those of President Trump’s second potential assassin than her own words. appeal to civility.”

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“This summer, following the first attempted assassination of a presidential candidate in more than a century, President Biden emphasized that ‘we cannot allow this violence to become normalized.’ In September, after President Trump escaped another threat, Vice President Harris acknowledged that “we must all do our part to ensure this incident does not lead to more violence,” they emphasized.

But “these words have proven hollow,” they said.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital election hub.