President Donald Trump said government leakers "should be shot" during a midterm campaign rally in Arizona on October 14, 2026, claiming a leaked timeline of the 2025 Iran bombing campaign forced him to delay the strikes by two days. The remarks — aimed at leakers and, minutes later, at reporters themselves — drew swift condemnation from press advocates and former White House aides.
What Trump said at the Bullhead City rally
Speaking at Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport in Bullhead City, Arizona, Trump told a midterm rally crowd backing Republican gubernatorial nominee Andy Biggs that leakers deserved the harshest punishment. "In my opinion, leakers should be shot. In the old days, we used to shoot leakers, you know, when they leak what time you're going to attack a country," he said, according to Al Jazeera and USA Today. He added that the leakers "ought to go to jail or be shot" and called them "the scum of the earth."
Minutes later, he broadened the attack to journalists: "They're almost as bad as a leaker because they leak… oftentimes without a source." The rally was part of a month-long campaign blitz ahead of the November 3, 2026 midterm elections.
The Iran raid claim behind the remarks
Trump appeared to be referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 surprise U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities during the 12-day Israel–Iran war. He claimed someone leaked the operation's timing — specifically that aircraft "were leaving at 12:07 from Missouri" — naming The New York Times and CNN, and said Iran's military was "waiting for" American troops, so he called off the raid, consulted Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and moved the mission two days later.
He tied the leak to coverage of a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency report that suggested Iran had moved some enriched uranium before the strikes and that the damage was more modest than he had claimed. The White House did not provide documentation of the leak claim at the rally.
Backlash and a press-crackdown backdrop
Jen Psaki of MS NOW called the remarks her "most unhinged performance at a political rally I have seen to date" and said every Republican running for re-election should be asked to answer for them. Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump's former White House communications director from 2017 to 2021, was cited by azcentral as saying he made similar "leakers should be executed" remarks privately in his first term, following the 2020 bunker story; a Trump spokesperson responded, "the best revenge is success."
The remarks landed amid a broader administration crackdown on leaks and the press. Al Jazeera reports the White House has ordered polygraph tests for staff and military personnel over media leaks, and reporters at the Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have received subpoenas over sources. Last year the Pentagon required journalists to sign an agreement not to publish unauthorized material — a federal court struck down many of those demands.
Days before the rally, Trump approved the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan by military firing squad — Hasan killed 13 people in 2009 — with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announcing plans to livestream the execution, scheduled for December 3, 2026, according to the Jerusalem Post. Separately the same week, Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers, all military or intelligence veterans, of "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH" on Truth Social over a video urging service members to defy illegal orders; Sen. Ed Markey and other Massachusetts Democrats condemned the "threats," per the Boston Herald.
Why this matters
A sitting president publicly urging the execution of government leakers — and grouping reporters alongside them — raises the stakes in an already tense standoff between the White House and the press. With subpoenas issued, polygraphs ordered, and the midterms weeks away, the Bullhead City remarks are likely to be tested in courtrooms, campaign debates, and newsrooms alike.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0