Trump says military leakers should be shot

On Oct. 14, 2026, in Bullhead City, Arizona, President Donald Trump told a midterm rally: "In my opinion, leakers should be shot." He said "in the old days, we used to shoot leakers" who reveal attack times, called a leaker "some sleaze-bag" who "ought to go to jail or be shot," and said leakers "are the scum of the earth" to be "dealt with very, very strongly," less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 elections. Trump linked the lines to Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 U.S. strikes on Iran in a 12-day Israel-Iran war. He said "They leaked the time we were leaving, the time we were arriving," claimed the bombing slipped two days, and named The New York Times and CNN. On social media he had written that Democrats leaked the "PERFECT FLIGHT" to Iran nuclear sites and "should be prosecuted!" Media had carried a preliminary DIA report, still not public, finding Iran moved enriched uranium and that damage was more modest than Trump claimed. CONTESTED: Trump attributes a schedule change and troop risk to timing leaks; the DIA material as reported addressed uranium movement and damage scale, and wire accounts state the coverage supplies no independent evidence that leaks altered the plans. The White House has polygraphed staff and officers. Journalists at the Times, Post and Journal received subpoenas. The Pentagon pressed an unauthorized-publication agreement; much of the press corps refused and a federal court struck down many of the limits.