A spokesman for President-elect Trump criticized Monday President BidenThe decision to commute the death sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, calling the move “a slap in the face to the victims, their families and their loved ones.”
In a short statement, Stephen Cheung, Trump's communications director, pointed out the difference in approaches between Biden and Trump in dealing with crime.
“These are among the worst killers in the world, and this abhorrent decision taken by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones,” he said in a statement. He added, “President Trump defends the rule of law, which will be restored when he returns to the White House after his election with a tremendous 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 that Biden would commute death sentences to life without the possibility of parole on Monday. The 37 men's victims included law enforcement officers, children and other prisoners.
“Biden’s decision is a slap in the face to the victims and families of the victims who believed justice would be served,” Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmidt wrote on X.
Several other Republican lawmakers echoed the same reactions.
Biden believes the federal death penalty should only be imposed for acts of terrorism Hate-motivated killingsThe White House said.
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 death sentences that would not be issued under current policy and practice.”
Three federal prisoners whose death sentences were not commuted are Robert Bowers, responsible for the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting, which left 11 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 deceased brother to carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds.
Biden said this move would prevent the incoming Trump administration from carrying out executions.
“With a clear conscience, I cannot stand back and allow a new administration to resume the executions I suspended,” he said.
The action came after Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 inmates placed on home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic and pardoned 40 others. Including his son Hunter.
As of December 13, Biden had pardoned a total of 65 individuals and commuted the sentences of 1,634 prisoners during his presidency, according to the Department of Justice.
Hunter Biden smiles big as he leaves an Arby's restaurant in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. This is the first time President Joe Biden's son has been photographed since his father pardoned him. (Live image by Fox News Digital)
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“The president has issued more lenient sentences at this stage of his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same stage of their first term,” White House officials said in an earlier statement.
Trump has taken A hardline stance on the death penalty, previously suggesting that drug traffickers should be eligible for the maximum sentence.
“We will require that anyone who sells drugs, or is caught selling drugs, receive the death penalty for their heinous actions,” Trump said earlier this year at a campaign trial. “Because it's the only way.”
