Advertisement

Trump blasts Biden for commuting nearly all US federal death sentences

The US president-elect vowed to pursue the death penalty against ‘violent rapists, murderers and monsters’

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
4
US president-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday. Photo: AP

Donald Trump hit out on Tuesday at Joe Biden for commuting the sentences of almost every American federal prisoner on death row, as the US president-elect prepares to replace the Democrat in the White House.

Advertisement

US President Biden, in his final month in office, announced on Monday he was converting the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal inmates awaiting execution to life without the possibility of parole.

They included nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.

“When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

(From left) US federal death row inmates Robert Bowers, the gunman who massacred 11 worshippers at a synagogue in 2018; Dylann Roof, who committed racist slayings of nine members of a black South Carolina congregation; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing attack. Photos: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation/Charleston County Sheriff’s Office/FBI via AP
(From left) US federal death row inmates Robert Bowers, the gunman who massacred 11 worshippers at a synagogue in 2018; Dylann Roof, who committed racist slayings of nine members of a black South Carolina congregation; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing attack. Photos: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation/Charleston County Sheriff’s Office/FBI via AP

Biden had imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty but was under pressure to act further before leaving the White House on January 20, amid signals from Republican Trump that he would resume the practice.

Advertisement
Advertisement