President-elect Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty for violent convicted felons once he returns to office in January.
“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”
The president-elect’s pledge came in response to President Joe Biden’s decision on Monday to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal prisoners on death row.
Trump’s Truth Social post included a screenshot of a New York Post report about Biden’s controversial act of clemency, with the headline proclaiming that the president commuted the “death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas.”
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” he said. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
The Post reported that Biden reduced each of the 37 sentences to life in prison without parole. The president did not specifically address why he considered the original sentences unjust.