During a Texas rally on Saturday, former president Donald Trump called for the imprisonment of the person who leaked a draft of a US Supreme Court opinion to overturn Roe v Wade, as well as the journalists who published it, despite not breaking any laws.
Trump also suggested that publishers should be threatened with the possibility of being raped in prison in an effort to draw out the “leaker” for a violation that does not exist.
“You take the writer and or the publisher of the paper … You say, ‘Who is the leaker?’ National security,” Trump said in a rambling speech at a rally in Robstown, Texas on Saturday.
“They say, ‘We’re not going to tell you.’ ‘You’re going to jail.’ And when this person realizes that he is going to be the bride of a prisoner very shortly, he will say, ‘I very much would like to tell you exactly who that leaker is,’” he said.
Trump’s remarks were in reference to a draft of the opinion authored by conservative US Justice Samuel Alito that was published in Politico in May, several weeks before the court issued the landmark opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck down a half century of constitutional protections for abortion care.
The controversial ruling revoked a constitutional right to abortion care, allowing states to enact severe restrictions on care or outlaw abortion altogether, triggering a wave of protests and litigation across the US.
Trump’s threats to protected First Amendment activities include repeatedly suggesting jail time for journalists and characterizing them as “enemies of the people.”
Watch Trump’s remarks below:
Top story: @Acyn: 'Trump on Supreme Court Leak: You take the writer and or the publisher… you say who is the leaker? National security. They say we're not going to tell you. You're going to jail. And when this person … pic.twitter.com/gnJt3eDRWQ, see more https://t.co/g4YNfcf7Ah
— Cane Warrior (@CaneWarrior) October 23, 2022