Trump Vows to Take Action After Biden Death Row Commutations

This week, Joe Biden outraged the nation when he issued commutations for 37 of the 40 death-row inmates.

After the announcement was made, Trump went nuclear, vowing to take action to fix this wrong.

Biden Commutations

It has become a tradition that the outgoing president will issue pardons and commutations in the waning days of an administration.

We all expected Biden to pardon some marijuana crimes, but when some of the far left in the party suggested that Biden pardon everyone on death row, nobody really thought he would do it.

Then, on December 23, 2024, Joe Biden announced he was commuting the sentences of all but three people on death row, leaving only the most famous of offenders on death row, which included the Boston Marathon bomber.

In part, Biden stated, “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

Biden later added, “…I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

The Exceptions

Biden did not pardon Robert D. Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

Dylan Roof will also remain on death row, convicted in 2017 for having killed nine people during a racially motivated mass shooting in South Carolina.

The final person not given a commutation was Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon Bomber, who was sentenced to death in 2015.

Trump Vows to Take Action

As soon as Biden made his announcement, Donald Trump made an announcement of his own.

Trump stated, “As soon as I am inaugurated, I 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!”

Biden vowed during the 2020 campaign to abolish the death penalty, whereas Trump oversaw more than a dozen federal executions. My guess here is that Trump will do his best to push the three federal death row inmates remaining to ensure these executions are actually carried out.

To me, Biden letting these monsters off the hook, some of whom raped and killed children, is disgusting. It just goes to show that if we are going to have the death penalty, we need to do two things: we must ensure the case is rock solid with no chance of an innocent man going to the chair. We must also expedite the sentence so individuals are not sitting on death row for decades before the sentence is carried out and everyone has forgotten about their horrific crime.