Trump Tells Arizona Rally 'Leakers Should Be Shot,' Cites Unspecified Iran Raid Leak

President Donald Trump told a campaign rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that government workers who leak to the press "should be shot." The rally was part of his push for the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

"Leakers should be, in my opinion, leakers should be shot," Trump said. "In the old days, we used to shoot leakers, you know, when they leak what time you're going to attack a country."

He called leakers "the scum of the Earth" and said they "should be dealt with very, very strongly." He also said they "ought to go to jail or be shot. For the rest of their life, they should be in jail."

The story Trump told

Trump described a planned strike on Iran that he said he called off because someone leaked its timing. "They leaked that we were leaving at 12:07 from Missouri, and it was in The New York Times, CNN," he said. "They leaked the time we were leaving, the time we were arriving."

He said B-2 bombers were sent and that "Iran was waiting for them." He said he called Gen. Dan Caine, who assured him the military could proceed anyway.

Trump said he rescheduled the raid and that it went ahead two days later at the same departure time, "the only time that they didn't expect us." He did not say how the timing had been disclosed or who was responsible.

Trump did not name the operation. He also gave no direct evidence that a media leak forced the Pentagon to change anything. NBC News noted he appeared to be referring to the June 2025 U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which proceeded.

Trump framed the reason for such strikes as defensive. "You don't want them to have a weapon that can blow up millions of people at one shot," he said.

Reporters in the crosshairs

Minutes later, Trump pointed at the press section and widened the target. "Those same people up there, they're almost as bad as a leaker, because they leak," he said. "They leak false information. That makes them a leaker, right?"

He added that reporters often work "without a source" and said, "I think they make up a lot of the sources."

The 2025 report he has blamed on Democrats

After the June 2025 strikes, several outlets published findings from a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment. It indicated Iran had moved some enriched uranium away from the bombed sites. It also suggested the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities was more modest than Trump had asserted.

Trump responded at the time on social media: "The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!" He did not say Wednesday whether that episode was the one he had in mind.

A crackdown already in motion

The remarks land on top of an administration campaign against unauthorized disclosures that has already produced court fights.

• Nondisclosure agreements. In May, the administration proposed directing federal agencies to have "new and existing employees" sign nondisclosure agreements. Defense Department staff have long signed such agreements covering classified information.
• Polygraphs. Federal investigators gave about 50 members of the military's Joint Staff polygraph tests about whether they had shared classified information with journalists, The New York Times reported last month, citing officials briefed on the move.
• The Natanson search. In January, Trump authorized a search of the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson. It was tied to an investigation of a Navy veteran and Pentagon contractor with top-secret clearance, who the Justice Department charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information. Those charges are allegations. A federal magistrate judge ruled a month later that the administration could not examine the data FBI agents seized from Natanson. The administration appealed, a district court judge upheld the ruling, and there have been no further appeals.
• Grand jury subpoenas. In June, the administration tried to compel grand jury testimony from four journalists, three from the Post and one from The Wall Street Journal. It dropped the subpoenas after the newspapers pushed back.

What is unresolved

Leaking classified defense information is a crime, and the Justice Department has charged a contractor in the Natanson case. Trump's stated concern is that disclosure of bomber departure and arrival times could endanger crews and compromise a mission. He presented the shooting line as his "opinion," alongside a call for life in prison.

Trump did not say whether anyone has been identified or charged over the flight-time leak he described, or whether he is proposing any change to the penalties in current law. No one in the administration has outlined a legal mechanism for the punishment he mentioned.

The next test is likely to come in the courts and the agencies. The nondisclosure proposal, the Joint Staff polygraph inquiry and the Natanson-related prosecution are all still in play, with the midterms 20 days away.