Pat Brady stressed that his head shot comment regarding Donald Trump was not meant to be taken literally. | AP Photo Kasich co-chair on Trump: 'You've got to take him out with a head shot'

One of the Illinois co-chairs of Ohio Gov. John Kasich's presidential campaign is brushing off saying that the only way Trump can be beaten is with a "head shot."

The comment, by Pat Brady, a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, came in an interview with Illinois's WGN Radio about a week ago after the last Republican presidential debate and was flagged Doug Ibendahl, a known critic of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration, which Brady supports.


"If you're going to take on Donald Trump, you've got to take him out with a head shot," Brady said during the interview.

Brady, asked about the comment after it was flagged by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, said he didn't mean it literally.

"That's a term of art we used when I was an assistant U.S. attorney many years ago to mean if you're going to win a big case or win a big argument, you got to take them out with a head shot," Brady told POLITICO on Tuesday. He went on to stress that he wasn't literally calling for someone to shoot Trump. "Of course not," Brady said.

Trump, meanwhile, went right after Kasich in response to the remark.

"John Kasich never expected to lose so badly, never expected to do so bad in the debates, he never thought he would embarrass himself like he has, but this is no way to act. Very sad commentary," Trump said in a statement.

The Kasich campaign distanced itself from Brady's comments.

"It was an unfortunate choice of words," Kasich campaign spokesman Rob Nichols said.