Trump Considers Firing Squads, Televising Executions If He Becomes President: Report

Former President Donald Trump is considering bringing back firing squads and televised execution if he is put back in the White House, according to a report.

Trump has repeatedly brought it up in conversations with some close associates in the run-up to the 2024 presidential campaign, Rolling Stone reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Specifically, the sources say Trump has talked about potentially bringing back death by firing squad, hanging, guillotine and group executions. One of the sources said Trump has mused about airing a government-backed ad campaign that would include televised footage of the executions and the final moments of the lives of the prisoners.

"The [former] president believes this would help put the fear of God into violent criminals," one of the sources told the publication. "He wanted to do some of these [things] when he was in office, but for whatever reasons didn't have the chance."

A Trump spokesperson later dismissed Rolling Stone's reporting on a possible Trump ad campaign featuring footage of executions, calling it "ridiculous" and "fake news."

"Either these people are fabricating lies out of thin air, or Rolling Stone is allowing themselves to be duped by these morons," the spokesperson told The Business Insider.

However, when asked about Trump's interest in bringing back archaic methods of execution, the outlet said the spokesperson pointed to the former president's campaign announcement in November wherein he called for the death penalty for people who are caught selling drugs.

In January 2019, Trump was also documented asking for footage of "people dying in a ditch" and "bodies stacked on top of bodies" for a visual advertising campaign with the aim of scaring kids away from drugs.

Trump ended his presidential term with at least 13 executions between July 2020 and January 2021 that concluded days before President Joe Biden's inauguration day. He was the first president to have overseen as many federal executions in more than 120 years, per AP News.

The Trump administration had also amended federal execution protocols before Biden's office took over. The amendment cleared the way for execution using other methods, including firing squads and poison gas.