Donald Trump told a crowd of diplomats and staffers at the United States Mission to the United Nations that he wants to know who leaked the information to the whistle-blower, calling them spies.

The NY Times is reporting that there were approximately 50 people in the meeting and some took very precise notes when Trump made these threats.

“I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy,” Mr. 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.”

This is incredible.

Whistle-blowers command the protections from the government they inform on when they believe a crime has been committed and for Trump to threaten old-fashioned executions is in and of itself despicable.

Trump made the statements at the same time his acting DNI was being grilled by the House Intelligence Committee.

One of his biggest henchmen, Rep.. Devin Nunes, used his time cross-examining Joseph Maguire to attack "the leakers" instead of the alleged corruption of Trump and Giuliani.

The LA Times has a slightly different, and more sinister quote:

UPDATE: The LA Times has the audio: