Trump vows to "vigorously pursue the death penalty" after Biden commutations
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President-elect Trump speaks during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest on Dec. 22 in Phoenix, Ariz. Photo: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
President-elect Trump promised Tuesday that his Justice Department will "vigorously pursue the death penalty," one day after President Biden announced he had commuted sentences for most of the people on federal death row.
The big picture: The Trump administration set records with a spree of executions during his first term, and he appears poised to reverse Biden's moratorium on federal use of capital punishment once he's sworn into office.
- Biden, in a statement announcing he would commute the inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole, said he could not "stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
Driving the news: "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 wrote in a Christmas Eve Truth Social post.
- He added, "We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!"
Context: Biden emphasized in a statement that he does "condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss."
- The three men who did not receive a commutation are the convicted gunman in the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting, the Tree of Life synagogue shooter and the surviving Boston Marathon bomber.
- The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment pending a study of policies and protocols.
- The president said his Monday commutations were in line with the standard of the administration's moratorium, which applies "in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder."
Flashback: The first Trump administration announced in 2019 that it would instruct the Federal Bureau of Prisons to reinstate the death penalty after a 16-year hiatus.
- There were 13 federal executions during Trump's first term. They mainly occurred toward the end of his White House tenure.
Zoom out: Trump has previously said he plans to expand the use of the death penalty to drug crimes.
- "We're going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts," Trump said during his official announcement of his 2024 presidential candidacy.
Go deeper: Biden commutes sentences of 1,500 Americans in single day record
