Trump’s Ominous Reaction to Report He Wanted to Execute People

Former Trump communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin revealed that Trump called for the execution of a staffer on several occasions during his time in the White House—and somehow, the disturbing news (and Trump’s even more troubling reaction to it) already seems to be fading from the headlines.

Griffin told Mediaite on Friday that Trump called to execute a staffer who leaked a story about Trump hiding in a bunker during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in response to the police murder of George Floyd.

He “straight up said [the] staffer who leaked … should be executed,” Griffin noted, adding that “there were [other incidents] where he talked about executing people.”

Griffin went on to call out former Attorney General Bill Bar, whom she claimed knew of the whole thing when asked about the report in a CNN interview in April. “Bill Barr kind of danced [around] it and said, ‘I don’t recall that specific instance,’ but there were others where we talked about executing people.”

During that CNN interview, Barr did in fact seem to justify the remarks, claiming Trump “would lose his temper” and “blow off steam” by calling to execute people. Creepily, Barr noted that eventually Trump could be talked down from his desire to see people he got upset with put to death, saying, “I doubt he would’ve actually carried it out.” Barr made no mention of what would happen if Trump couldn’t be talked down, nor could Barr say with absolute certainty—instead hedging in doubt—that Trump wouldn’t have gone through with overseeing the execution of political enemies.

In response to the news that Trump had called for a staffer’s execution, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung issued an ominous and bizarre statement to Newsweek: “As President Trump has said, the best revenge is the success and prosperity of all Americans.” Cheung did not confirm or deny any of the details of the meeting between Griffin, Barr, and Trump.

Trump’s disturbing penchant for execution is just par for the course for the would-be dictator, whose bloodlust has increased in the public eye post-conviction. In early June, Trump told Dr. Phil that “sometimes revenge can be justified.” On Newsmax days earlier, Trump suggested he may pursue charges against Biden in retaliation for his hush-money trial—an investigation that he blames on Biden but which began in 2018—when Trump himself was president and more than a year before Biden announced his 2020 bid for the White House. And in 2016, Trump regularly called to imprison Hillary Clinton—calls that the freshly convicted felon now denies making but which were a hallmark of his campaign.