Canada Global (Web News) Donald Trump criticized Joe Biden on Tuesday for commuting the death sentences of nearly all federal prisoners on death row, as Biden prepares to leave office and Trump prepares to take office.
In his final month as president, Biden announced on Monday that he was reducing the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates facing execution to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Among those whose sentences were commuted were nine individuals convicted of killing fellow prisoners, four convicted of murders during bank robberies, and one who killed a prison guard.
Trump voiced his disapproval on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying, “Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country. 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!”
Biden, who had already imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty, was under pressure to take further action before leaving office on January 20, especially with indications that Trump would reinstate executions.
Though Biden condemned the actions of the inmates he spared, he stated that his decision was guided by “my conscience and my experience” to prevent the incoming Trump administration from resuming executions.
However, Biden excluded three individuals from his commutation order: one of the Boston Marathon bombers from 2013, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018, and a white supremacist responsible for the 2015 shooting of nine Black churchgoers.
Trump confirmed that, upon taking office, he would instruct the Justice Department to “vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.”
