Trump Calls for Harshest Punishment for Those Who Leak Classified Information

US President Donald Trump has called for the harshest possible action against people who provide classified information to the media, saying that such individuals should be shot. Speaking at an election rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, Trump urged his supporters to vote in the midterm elections scheduled for November 3. Trump said he believed those who leak classified information should be shot, adding that in the past, people who disclosed information about the timing of attacks on other countries were shot.

His remarks came in the context of the US military operation against Iran, known as “Operation Midnight Hammer,” carried out in June 2025. Following the operation, several US media outlets published findings from a preliminary report by the Defense Intelligence Agency that had not yet been made public. The report suggested that Iran had managed to move some of its enriched uranium from sites targeted by US strikes. It also indicated that the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities was less extensive than Trump had claimed.

President Trump accused media organizations, including The New York Times and CNN, of endangering US military personnel by publishing classified information. According to Trump, leaks about the departure and arrival times associated with the strikes forced him to change the bombing schedule two days later.

He said those responsible for leaking classified information should be sent to prison or shot, adding that such individuals should spend the rest of their lives behind bars. The Trump administration has also intensified efforts to identify those responsible for the leaks. Some administration employees and military officers have undergone polygraph tests. Journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have also received court subpoenas seeking to identify their sources.

Last year, the US Department of Defense required journalists seeking access to the Pentagon to sign an agreement not to publish unauthorized material. However, many journalists refused to accept the condition, and a federal court struck down several of the new restrictions.  Trump has previously expressed support for severe punishments against people who leak classified information.  In 2024, former White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin said that after reports emerged in 2020 that Trump had taken shelter in a White House bunker, he had spoken about imposing the death penalty on those responsible for leaking the information.  In his remarks on Wednesday, Trump again called for the harshest possible action against people who disclose classified information, describing them as “the worst people on Earth.”