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He Said It

Did Elliot Forhan, a Democrat running to be Ohio's attorney general, post a video on TikTok in which he says "I'm going to kill Donald Trump"? Yes, that's true: Forhan, who served one term in the Ohio legislature, shared a 41-second-long video on his campaign's TikTok account. He said if elected he would put Trump on trial before an Ohio jury and win a conviction that would result in an execution. The video did not specify a capital crime, but he told Lead Stories he would prosecute Trump "if he tries again to end American democracy."

The video (archived here) was posted on Forhan's TikTok account on January 27, 2026. Forhan, in a selfie-style video, said:

Hi, this is Elliot Forhan, candidate for Ohio attorney general. I want to tell you what I mean when I say that I am going to kill Donald Trump. I mean I'm going to obtain a conviction rendered by a jury of his peers at a standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, based on evidence presented at a trial, conducted in accordance with the requirements of due process, resulting in a sentence duly executed of capital punishment. That is what I mean when I say that I'm going to kill Donald Trump.

This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:

(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of TikTok video posted at @forhanforohio/video/7600046112107498782.)

Lead Stories sent an email to Forhan asking him what charge that carried the death penalty did he intend to prosecute Trump with. He replied in an email with this answer:

The last thing that Donald Trump did during his first term of office, he broke his oath to the constitution by fomenting a violent insurrection against the country. The first thing he did during his current term, he pardoned everyone who participated in that insurrection, and he fired from the Department of Justice all the lawyers who prosecuted them. He is using the Department of Homeland Security and ICE as weapons against the American people. He could well try again to do what he failed to do on January 6.

This month, in South Korea, a special prosecutor asked for the death penalty against the former South Korean president, who tried to do a coup in 2024 in that country. If Donald Trump tries again to end American democracy, then as Ohio attorney general I will hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Forhan is one of two candidates who have qualified to be on the ballot for the primary election set for May 5, 2026, which will decide the Democratic nominee for attorney general of Ohio.

He earned a law degree at Yale University in 2013, and was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives for a two-year term starting on January 1, 2023. Forhan was shunned by Democratic leaders after a series of personal attacks on other lawmakers. The Democratic leader of the state house Allison Russo sent a letter to him in November 2023 to inform him that he was being stripped of his committee assignments because of a "continued pattern of harassment, hostility, and intimidation of colleagues and staff," according to a Cleveland.com report (archived here.)

Forhan failed to get re-elected for a second term when he came in third place in the 2024 Democratic primary with just 12% of the vote.

When he responded (archived here) to a question in Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey of attorney general candidates asking about "the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office," he wrote:

• Tax the rich
• Stand up to bullies
• Apply the law equally to everyone, including the rich and the powerful.