A spokesperson for President-elect Trump on Monday lashed out at President Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, calling the move “a slap in the face to the victims, their families and their loved ones.” “
In a brief statement, Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, highlighted the different approaches to crime between Biden and Trump.
“These are among the worst murderers in the world and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families and their loved ones,” he said in a statement. “President Trump defends the rule of law, which will return when he returns to the White House after being elected with a massive mandate from the American people.”
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Social media erupted Monday after President Biden announced he would commute the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates. (AP)
The White House announced Monday that Biden would commute the death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The victims of the 37 men included law enforcement officers, children and other inmates.
“Biden’s decision is a slap in the face to the victims and victims’ families who thought justice would be served,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote in X.
Many other Republican lawmakers echoed the same reactions.
Biden believes the federal death penalty should only be imposed for acts of terrorism and hate-motivated murders, the White House said.
“When President Biden took office, his administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and his actions today will prevent the next administration from carrying out execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice,” the White House said. .
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Three federal inmates whose death sentences were not commuted are Robert Bowers, responsible for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, which left 11 people dead; Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who killed nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who worked with his now-dead brother to carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds.
Biden said the move would prevent the incoming Trump administration from carrying out the executions.
“In good conscience, I cannot step back and allow a new administration to resume the executions that I stopped,” he said.
The action came after Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 prisoners placed in home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and pardoned 40 others. including his son, Hunter.
As of Dec. 13, Biden has pardoned a total of 65 people and commuted sentences for 1,634 inmates during his time as president, according to the Justice Department.
Hunter Biden flashes a big smile as he leaves an Arby’s in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. This is the first time President Joe Biden’s son has been photographed since he was pardoned by his father. (The direct image for Fox News Digital)
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“The president has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms,” White House officials said in an earlier statement.
Trump has taken a tough stance on the death penalty and previously suggested that drug traffickers should be eligible for the maximum penalty.
“We’re going to ask everyone who sells drugs, who gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” Trump said earlier this year at the campaign trial. “Because it’s the only way.”
