Donald Trump spoke about 'executing people', former aide says and warns of term filled with 'rage'
Former President Donald Trump had conversations about executing people while he was in power at the White House, one of his old aides has revealed.
Speaking on a Mediaite podcast, former White House strategic communications boss Alyssa Farah Griffin admitted the presidential nominee made the shocking remarks and that a second tenure would be filled with "rage and retribution" if the Republican beats Joe Biden at the November election.
Ms Griffin was speaking with Mediaite editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin on the company's Press Club podcast when she mentioned an interview with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins and Trump's former US Attorney General Bill Bar back in April. It related to an anecdote Griffin had made after a meeting in the Oval Office where Trump "straight up said a staffer who leaked a story shout be executed."
Trump is vying for a second term at the White House
The former aide continued: "And Bill Barr kind of danced it and said, 'I don't recall that specific instance,' but there were others where we talked about executing people. How do you rationalize that is a person fit in sound judgment to be president of the United States?"
In the aforementioned interview, Barr detailed how Trump was angry at a staffer who had leaked a story about the then President going to a bunker during protests following George Floyd's murder in May 2022. He said: "I remember [Trump] being very mad about that. I actually don't remember him saying 'executing,' but I wouldn't dispute it."
Barr went on to say Trump would lose his temper and "say things like that" but he doubted whether he would actually carry it out. Barr was also asked by Collins if there were other occasions the former Apprentice star would say similar things, Newsweek reports.
He replied: "I think people sometimes took him too literally and he would say things like similar to that, in occasions, to blow off steam, but I wouldn't take him literally every time he did it. At the end of the day, it wouldn't be carried out and you could talk sense into him."
In response to Griffin's comments, Trump's spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek on Friday: "As President Trump has said, the best revenge is the success and prosperity of all Americans."
Alyssa Farah Griffin made the revelations on a podcast this week
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Griffin left Trump's administration early in December 2020, weeks after Trump lost the election to Joe Biden. At the time, Trump was challenging the election results, telling his supporters that Biden's victory was stolen via widespread voter fraud. There is no evidence to support such claims.
Following the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, in which Trump supporters stormed the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the election results, Griffin testified before the House select committee tasked with investigating the event surrounding the insurrection and Trump's alleged involvement in it.
The former president faces four felony counts related to the riot. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied inciting violence at the Capitol, claiming the case against him is politically motivated.
During an interview earlier this month, Trump hinted at imprisoning his politician rivals if he returned to power. He said: "I said, 'Wouldn't it really be bad?...Wouldn't it be terrible to throw the president's wife and the former secretary of state—think of it, the former secretary of state—but the president's wife into jail? Wouldn't that be a terrible thing?"
"But they want to do it. It's a terrible, terrible path that they're leading us to, and it's very possible that it's going to have to happen to them."