Trump Calls for Leakers to Be Shot

President Donald Trump suggested during a rally in Bullhead City, Arizona that people who leak sensitive government information should be shot. He referred to an alleged leak about a planned raid on Iran that had to be delayed due to the leaked information.

Trump said, 'In my opinion, leakers should be shot.' He claimed that leaks put military members in danger and accused The New York Times and CNN of reporting the leaks. According to multiple reports, Trump appeared to be referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, a surprise attack on Iran's nuclear sites during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

In the aftermath of the attack, several media outlets published findings from a preliminary report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The report indicated that Iran was able to move some of its enriched uranium away from the sites the US had bombed and suggested that the extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities was more modest than what Trump had asserted.

Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the news media, and he has previously called for harsh punishment against any official who passes on confidential information to news outlets. Under his administration, aggressive actions have been taken to track down the source of leaks, including polygraph tests for staff and journalists receiving subpoenas aimed at determining the sources of internal information made public.