USA: Donald Trump would have informants shot for betraying secrets
US President Donald Trump expressed sharp criticism of informants during an appearance in Arizona and called for the death penalty for leaking military information.
Quick Look
- US President Donald Trump called for the shooting of informants following military leaks during a campaign appearance in Arizona.
- The comments come at a time of renewed debate over the death penalty in the United States.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
US forces bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. The debate over the death penalty is fueled by planned military executions and failed enforcement.
The important midterm elections are coming up in the USA on November 3rd. So President Donald Trump is currently traveling through several states to support his party's candidates in the election campaign. On Wednesday he made a stop in Arizona. And there he was upset about, among other things, an unknown tipster who is said to have passed on the time of US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities to journalists.
“Informants should be shot, in my opinion,” said Trump. This was also common “in the old days”. The president also called people who leak military information “the scum of humanity.”
In June 2025, the US armed forces bombed the Iranian uranium enrichment facilities in Natans and Fordo as well as a nuclear facility in Isfahan as part of “Operation Midnight Hammer”. Trump repeatedly justifies the military operation at the time - as well as his war against Iran - by saying that the Islamic Republic, which is hostile to its ally Israel, should not have nuclear bombs. The leadership in Tehran always asserts that the country's nuclear program only serves civilian purposes and not the development of nuclear weapons. This representation is not only doubted in the USA and Israel.
Why there is now increasing discussion about the death penalty in the USA
In the USA, the long-standing debate about the use of the death penalty recently flared up again. One reason for this: The Pentagon is planning a military execution for the first time in 65 years, which, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will also be broadcast via live stream. The execution of convicted assassin Nidal Hasan, who carried out a massacre at the US military base Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, is scheduled for December 3rd and will take place at the crime scene. The planned live broadcast in particular triggered a wave of criticism.
The debate over the use of capital punishment was further fueled by the recent failure of an execution in the state of Tennessee. According to authorities, convicted murderer Christa Pike was injected with two doses of the drug pentobarbital, but the 50-year-old survived. Pike was scheduled to be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Military execution of Nidal Hasan on December 3rd
Very likely · Within weeks
Open Questions
- Who is the informant behind the military leaks?
- How will the planned livestream execution affect the US legal debate?
