President Donald Trump called for extreme punishment for government leakers Wednesday, delivering a startling warning during an Arizona rally as he railed against disclosures about U.S. military operations.
Trump made the eyebrow-raising remarks while discussing leaked information about the timing of a U.S. military operation against Iran, arguing that such disclosures could put American forces at risk.
“But they leak. Leakers should be — my opinion, leakers should be shot,” Trump declared.
“In the old days we used to shoot leakers, you know, when they leak what time you’re going to attack a country,” he continued.
Trump defended the military campaign as necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon capable of killing millions of people.
“Now leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly,” he said. “They’re the scum of the earth. The leakers are the scum of the earth!”
The president later returned to the subject while attacking the news media over its coverage of his administration.
“The fake news media doesn’t want to talk about how well we’re doing,” Trump complained, before comparing journalists to the leakers he just condemned.
“They’re almost as bad as a leaker, because they leak false information that makes them a leaker, oftentimes without a source,” Trump said.
“They’re like storytellers,” he added, accusing the media of inventing anonymous sources while providing no evidence.
The remarks came as Trump defended his military campaign against Iran and boasted that the country had entered what he called a “golden age.”
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