'Unfit for Office': Trump Reportedly Suggests Person Who Informed Whistleblower Should Be Executed

President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to suggest that the person who passed on information about his phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to a whistleblower should be executed, a striking escalation in rhetoric as the scandal over the July conversation between the two leaders continued to unfold. 

“Very normal, healthy democracy we live in,” tweeted The Young Turks host John Iadarola.

Trump’s comments came during a private event at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York to mark the end of the United Nations General Assembly.

“I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information, because that’s close to a spy,” Trump said. “You know what we used to do in the old days, when we were smart, with spies and treason, right? We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

Treason is a capital federal crime punishable by death. Spying is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. 

According to The New York Times, which broke the story, Trump’s comments “stunned” some people in the audience. The president had choice words for the media as well: