Trump says DoJ will ‘vigorously’ pursue death penalty after Biden commutations

Donald Trump has said he will direct the justice department to “vigorously” pursue the death penalty for the perpetrators of violent crimes, one day after Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of most prisoners on the federal government’s death row.

In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect said as soon as he is inaugurated next month, he “will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters”.

“We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” Trump added.

Trump will not be able to reverse Biden’s recent commutations, which extended to 37 federal death row prisoners but left three capital sentences intact. Those three are for Robert Bowers, convicted for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue; Dylann Roof, convicted of the shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME church; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the Boston Marathon bombing.

Opponents of the death penalty praised the president’s decision, while others criticized the move.

Donnie Oliverio, the partner of Bryan Hurst, an Ohio police officer who was killed by a prisoner whose death sentence was commuted, said his killer’s execution “would have brought me no peace”.

Hurst’s widow, Marissa Gibson, called Biden’s move distressing and a “complete dismissal and undermining of the federal justice system”, in a statement to the Columbus Dispatch.

In the case of Dylann Roof, Rev Sharon Risher, the family member of several of his nine victims at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, said Biden’s decision was “unfair” and urged him to “finish the job” and commute the sentences of the three remaining men.

“You can’t rank victims, Mr President,” Risher, who is board chair of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek. “I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There’s still time. Finish the job.”

Biden, an opponent of the death penalty, said he could not allow the new administration to restart executions – a promise Trump made on the campaign. Thirteen federal prisoners were put to death during Trump’s first term.

Biden’s decision to commute the 37 death sentences provoked an angry response from his White House predecessor and successor.

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump said in a post soon after the decision was made public. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated.”