Mr. Trump met Mr. Biden (right) at the White House on November 13
US President-elect Donald Trump announced on December 24 that he would direct the Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty to protect the American people from “rapists, murderers and sadists”.
“We will again have a country of law and order,” AFP quoted Mr. Trump writing on the social network Truth Social. The above statement was made one day after US President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 prisoners on the federal death penalty to life imprisonment without parole.
Among those whose sentences were reduced, nine were convicted of murdering fellow inmates, four were convicted of murder during bank robberies and one was convicted of murdering a prison guard. The US President said the remaining three people who were not pardoned were involved in terrorism and mass murder cases with hate motives.
“Mr. Biden just commuted the death sentences of 37 of the worst murderers in our country. When you hear about each person’s actions, you won’t believe that he did this. It’s meaningless. Relatives and Friends (of the victims) will be even more devastated. They cannot believe this is happening,” Mr. Trump wrote.
What did Mr. Biden say when pardoning his son?
When commuting the sentence, President Biden said he “condemned the killers and grieved for the families of the victims who have experienced irreplaceable loss.”
“However, with my conscience and experience, having worked as a defense attorney, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president and now president, I think we must stop end the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” according to the outgoing White House boss.
