The person that gave WikiLeaks 250,000 secret diplomatic cables deserves to die, says one Fox News host who is widely thought to be planning a 2012 presidential run.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was caught on video at a book signing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif. saying that the leaker should be executed.

“Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason,” Huckabee said. “I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“They’ve put American lives at risk,” he said. “They’ve put relationships that will take decades to rebuild at risk, and they knew full well that they were handling sensitive documents, they were entrusted and anyone who had access to that level of information was not only a person who understood what their rules were, but they also signed under oath a commitment that they would not violate it. They did.”

“And I believe they have committed treason against this country, and any lives they endanger, they’re personally responsible for and the blood is on their hands,” he added.

Huckabee is the second Fox News host to wish death on the leaker. On Monday, Bill O’Reilly also yearned for capital punishment.

“Whoever leaked all those State Department documents to the WikiLeaks website is a traitor and should be executed or put in prison for life,” he said.

“The guy who runs the website is a sleazeball named Julian Assange, who is bent on damaging America. Since he’s not a U.S. citizen, it’s hard for American authorities to move against him,” O’Reilly continued. “But we can prosecute those who leak the documents to Assange.”

ADVERTISEMENT

But some also want to see Assange face execution. Townhall’s John Hawkins wrote a Tuesday morning column entitled “5 Reasons The CIA Should Have Already Killed Julian Assange.”

Fox News contributor Sarah Palin took to her Facebook page to suggest that Assange deserved the same treatment as terrorists and insurgents.

“Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?” she asked.

ADVERTISEMENT

If the fallout from the latest leaks is anything like that of previously released documents then the US may not have too much to worry about.

In October, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, that a preliminary review “has not revealed any sensitive intelligence sources and methods compromised” by the 77,000 Afghanistan war documents released by WikiLeaks.

ADVERTISEMENT

During a Tuesday press conference, Gates downplayed the impact of the latest leaks.

“The fact is governments deal with the United States because it’s in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us and not because they think we can keep secrets,” Gates said.

This video was uploaded to YouTube Nov. 29, 2010.