Trump says government leakers ‘should be shot’ at Arizona rally

President Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Arizona on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, that people who leak sensitive government information should be jailed and shot, using unusually explicit language while discussing disclosures he said preceded U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Video published by the Associated Press and USA Today recorded the remarks. The Hill separately reported the comments from Trump’s event in Bullhead City, Arizona. Trump did not identify a suspected leaker, announce a new policy or say that anyone had been charged in connection with the disclosures he described.

What Trump said

Trump told the audience that information about the timing of a U.S. military departure from Missouri had appeared in The New York Times and on CNN. He said the disclosure forced the operation to be delayed by two days. “In my opinion, leakers should be shot,” Trump said, adding that “in the old days, we used to shoot leakers.”

Earlier in the same passage, Trump said the person responsible should go to jail and be shot. He called leakers “the scum of the earth” and argued that revealing the timing of a military operation could endanger a mission. The Hill reported that Trump appeared to be referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The president then turned his criticism toward journalists at the rally, describing reporters as “almost as bad as a leaker.” He accused news organizations of publishing false information and sometimes inventing sources. His remarks did not distinguish between unauthorized disclosure of classified information, disclosure of unclassified government information and reporting based on confidential sources.

No new enforcement action announced

The comments were a public statement at a political event, not a formal directive. Neither the reports nor the video identified an executive order, Justice Department instruction or proposed legislation accompanying Trump’s remarks. No evidence presented with the comments established who supplied the information Trump referenced or whether the reporting he cited caused the delay he described.

Federal law already provides criminal penalties for some unauthorized disclosures, particularly those involving national defense information, intelligence identities or communications intelligence. Whether a disclosure violates a specific statute depends on the information, the person’s access and the circumstances. Trump’s call for shooting leakers went beyond the ordinary statutory penalties described in the reports and was not presented as a detailed legal proposal.

The administration had not provided an on-the-record clarification in the cited coverage about whether Trump intended the statement literally, whether he was referring to a particular investigation or whether officials planned any response. That distinction matters because the president paired a claim about operational security with a broad attack on confidential sourcing and the press.

Campaign setting and immediate significance

Trump delivered the remarks during a western campaign swing intended to support Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections. The statement diverted from the rally’s electoral message and quickly became the focus of national coverage because it involved the president advocating lethal punishment for an unspecified category of people.

The immediate, verified development is the statement itself: Trump publicly endorsed shooting leakers while recounting his version of events before the Iran operation. The available reports do not establish that a person has been accused, arrested or charged over the alleged disclosure, and they do not show that the administration has converted the rhetoric into policy.

Sources and image credit

Video and reporting: Associated Press, The Hill and USA Today.

Image: Official White House photograph by Shealah Craighead of Trump speaking in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 23, 2020; via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Original White House Flickr record. The archival image is illustrative and was cropped to 16:9; no text was added.