(Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
December 24, 2024
ALTERNET
President Joe Biden recently commuted the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates with less than a month remaining before he leaves the White House. Now, President-elect Donald Trump is raging at the lame-duck president on social media.
The Daily Beast reported that Trump took to his Truth Social account to blast Biden for the wave of commutations, in which Biden freed 37 inmates who Trump would have been able to execute beginning on January 20. In the post, the president-elect referred to the freed inmates as "the worst killers in our Country."
"When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense," Trump posted. "Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!"
READ MORE: To thwart Trump killing spree, Biden urged to commute death penalty cases
"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," Trump wrote in a subsequent Truth Social post. "We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!"
The Beast quoted Amnesty International Executive Director Paul O'Brien, who praised Biden for preventing Trump from carrying out future executions in his second term. During his first term as president, Trump ordered the executions of 13 federal death row inmates – a record high.
"It is near certain that Donald Trump will re-start the federal killing machine where he left off, and we remain concerned about the human rights of those who are still on federal and military death row," O'Brien stated.
Heather Turner, whose mother was killed by a bank robber that received one of Biden's commutations, called the outgoing president's commutation a "gross abuse of power" and said that Biden and his supporters "have blood on their hands." But according to the Beast, retired police officer Donnie Olivero, whose law enforcement partner was killed by one of the commutation recipients, stated that Biden "has done what is right" and acknowledged that carrying out the inmate's execution "would have brought me no peace."
READ MORE: 'Historic and courageous step': Biden applauded for commuting 37 death sentences
Biden's commutations were for all federal death row inmates, save for three: Dzokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof, who massacred nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015 and Robert Gregory Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2018.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden stated upon issuing the commutations. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President and now President, 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," he added.
Click here to read the Beast's full article (subscription required).
President Joe Biden recently commuted the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates with less than a month remaining before he leaves the White House. Now, President-elect Donald Trump is raging at the lame-duck president on social media.
The Daily Beast reported that Trump took to his Truth Social account to blast Biden for the wave of commutations, in which Biden freed 37 inmates who Trump would have been able to execute beginning on January 20. In the post, the president-elect referred to the freed inmates as "the worst killers in our Country."
"When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense," Trump posted. "Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!"
READ MORE: To thwart Trump killing spree, Biden urged to commute death penalty cases
"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," Trump wrote in a subsequent Truth Social post. "We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!"
The Beast quoted Amnesty International Executive Director Paul O'Brien, who praised Biden for preventing Trump from carrying out future executions in his second term. During his first term as president, Trump ordered the executions of 13 federal death row inmates – a record high.
"It is near certain that Donald Trump will re-start the federal killing machine where he left off, and we remain concerned about the human rights of those who are still on federal and military death row," O'Brien stated.
Heather Turner, whose mother was killed by a bank robber that received one of Biden's commutations, called the outgoing president's commutation a "gross abuse of power" and said that Biden and his supporters "have blood on their hands." But according to the Beast, retired police officer Donnie Olivero, whose law enforcement partner was killed by one of the commutation recipients, stated that Biden "has done what is right" and acknowledged that carrying out the inmate's execution "would have brought me no peace."
READ MORE: 'Historic and courageous step': Biden applauded for commuting 37 death sentences
Biden's commutations were for all federal death row inmates, save for three: Dzokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof, who massacred nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015 and Robert Gregory Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2018.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden stated upon issuing the commutations. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President and now President, 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," he added.
Click here to read the Beast's full article (subscription required).
'Vigorously pursue': Trump vows to ramp up executions after Biden commuted death sentences
Travis Gettys
December 24, 2024
Travis Gettys
December 24, 2024
RAW STORY
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop at manufacturer FALK Production in Walker, Michigan, U.S. September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Donald Trump vowed to "vigorously pursue the death penalty" immediately upon his inauguration.
The president-elect reacted to President Joe Biden commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal prisoners on death row with a social media attack Tuesday morning, saying Biden's decision "makes no sense."
About two hours later he issued his own pledge.
"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," Trump posted on his Truth Social website. "We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!"
Trump, who is a convicted felon himself, posted a screenshot to a New York Postreport whose headline read that Biden commuted the "death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas," providing lurid descriptions of their crimes and photos of their victims.
"Biden, who opposes the death penalty, lowered each of the 37 sentences to life in prison without parole," the report stated. "He did not say why specifically he considered the original penalties unjust."
The report further stated that "Christmas also came early" for one convicted killer and noted that another was "getting some holiday cheer" from the president, whose term ends next month. It reminded readers that Biden had pardoned his own son earlier this month and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who had been temporarily released from prison during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The retiring president on Dec. 1 issued a blanket pardon for his own son Hunter Biden, 54 — wiping the slate of his June conviction of three federal gun felonies and his September guilty plea to $1.4 million in tax fraud from foreign business dealings in which he repeatedly involved his father," the Post reported.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump makes a campaign stop at manufacturer FALK Production in Walker, Michigan, U.S. September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Donald Trump vowed to "vigorously pursue the death penalty" immediately upon his inauguration.
The president-elect reacted to President Joe Biden commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal prisoners on death row with a social media attack Tuesday morning, saying Biden's decision "makes no sense."
About two hours later he issued his own pledge.
"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," Trump posted on his Truth Social website. "We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!"
Trump, who is a convicted felon himself, posted a screenshot to a New York Postreport whose headline read that Biden commuted the "death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas," providing lurid descriptions of their crimes and photos of their victims.
"Biden, who opposes the death penalty, lowered each of the 37 sentences to life in prison without parole," the report stated. "He did not say why specifically he considered the original penalties unjust."
The report further stated that "Christmas also came early" for one convicted killer and noted that another was "getting some holiday cheer" from the president, whose term ends next month. It reminded readers that Biden had pardoned his own son earlier this month and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who had been temporarily released from prison during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The retiring president on Dec. 1 issued a blanket pardon for his own son Hunter Biden, 54 — wiping the slate of his June conviction of three federal gun felonies and his September guilty plea to $1.4 million in tax fraud from foreign business dealings in which he repeatedly involved his father," the Post reported.
'Be consistent': GOP rep. faults Obama and Marxism as Biden leaves racists on death row
David Edwards
December 24, 2024
David Edwards
December 24, 2024
RAW STORY
Claudia Tenney (Fox News/screen grab)
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) faulted Barack Obama's former White House staffers after President Joe Biden declined to commute the death sentences for three federal inmates, including two racist murderers.
During a Christmas Eve interview with Fox News host John Roberts, Tenney griped about Democrats like Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who supports abortion rights but opposes the death penalty.
"So the sanctity of life is not something that she holds dear to innocent children in the womb," the New York Republican told Roberts.
Tenney went on to question Biden's Catholic faith because he declined to commute the death sentences of white supremacist murderer Dylann Roof, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and synagogue shooter Robert Bowers.
"Biden claims it's his Catholic faith. How do you spare some and not others just because they look like they were politically motivated?" she opined. "If you're going to believe in the death penalty or not believe in the death penalty, you have to be consistent. And obviously, Joe Biden was not consistent in this."
Tenney suggested Obama "holdovers" at the White House and Marxism were behind the commutations.
"I hate to say this, but it's probably some Marxist-leaning Democrats, Obama holdovers that are staffers because we know that Joe Biden is basically checked out and is not even really doing the work in the White House," she asserted. "But also, why is this guy still the president of the United States when he's incapable of committing, you know, doing this work?"
Watch the video below from Fox News.
Claudia Tenney (Fox News/screen grab)
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) faulted Barack Obama's former White House staffers after President Joe Biden declined to commute the death sentences for three federal inmates, including two racist murderers.
During a Christmas Eve interview with Fox News host John Roberts, Tenney griped about Democrats like Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who supports abortion rights but opposes the death penalty.
"So the sanctity of life is not something that she holds dear to innocent children in the womb," the New York Republican told Roberts.
Tenney went on to question Biden's Catholic faith because he declined to commute the death sentences of white supremacist murderer Dylann Roof, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and synagogue shooter Robert Bowers.
"Biden claims it's his Catholic faith. How do you spare some and not others just because they look like they were politically motivated?" she opined. "If you're going to believe in the death penalty or not believe in the death penalty, you have to be consistent. And obviously, Joe Biden was not consistent in this."
Tenney suggested Obama "holdovers" at the White House and Marxism were behind the commutations.
"I hate to say this, but it's probably some Marxist-leaning Democrats, Obama holdovers that are staffers because we know that Joe Biden is basically checked out and is not even really doing the work in the White House," she asserted. "But also, why is this guy still the president of the United States when he's incapable of committing, you know, doing this work?"
Watch the video below from Fox News.
Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
Agence France-Presse
December 23, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of 37 of 40 federal inmates, taking action ahead of the return of Donald Trump (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP)
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of 37 of 40 federal inmates, taking action ahead of the return of Donald Trump who oversaw a sweeping number of lethal injections during his first term.
With less than a month left in office, Biden had faced growing calls from death penalty opponents to commute the sentences of those on death row to life in prison without parole, which the 37 will now serve.
The move leaves only a handful of high-profile killers who acted out of hate or terrorism facing the federal death penalty -- for which there has been a moratorium under Biden.
"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 said in a statement.
"I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole," he said.
The three inmates who will remain on federal death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Dylann Roof, an avowed white supremacist who in 2015 shot and killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.
Robert Bowers, who killed 11 Jewish worshippers during a 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, will also remain on death row.
Those commuted included nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.
"Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss," Biden said.
"But guided by my conscience and my experience...I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level," he added.
- Trump death penalty expansion -
Biden campaigned for the White House as an opponent of the death penalty, and the Justice Department issued a moratorium on its use at the federal level after he became president.
During his reelection campaign, Trump spoke frequently of expanding the use of capital punishment to include migrants who kill American citizens and drug and human traffickers.
There had been no federal inmates put to death in the United States since 2003 until Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020.
He oversaw 13 by lethal injection during his final six months in power, more than any US leader in 120 years.
The last federal execution -- which was carried out by lethal injection at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana -- took place on January 16, 2021, four days before Trump left office.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while six others -- Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee -- have moratoriums in place.
In 2024, there have been 25 executions in the United States, all at the state level.
© Agence France-Presse
'Historic and courageous step': Biden applauded for commuting 37 death sentences
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks during the Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 9, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
Jake Johnson
Common Dreams
The president's latest use of his clemency power in the waning days of his White House term came after a monthslong pressure campaign by principled opponents of the death penalty, including progressive lawmakers, human rights organizations, religious leaders, and former federal judges.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, applauded Biden's move Monday as "a historic and courageous step in addressing the failed death penalty in the United States—bringing us much closer to outlawing the barbaric practice once again."
"By commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on death row, President Biden has taken the most consequential step of any president in our history to address the immoral and unconstitutional harms of capital punishment," said Romero. "President Biden's actions also remove 37 individuals out of harm's way—as President-elect Trump has a proven penchant and track record of conducting rushed executions. In the last six months of his first term, President Trump executed 13 individuals—more than any administration in 120 years."
"The ACLU is proud to join countless advocates and civil and human rights organizations in thanking President Biden for his leadership and commitment to the highest principles of justice and humanity," Romero added.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) said Monday that Biden's move "marks what could become a turning point in the history of capital punishment in the United States."
"Thirty years ago, then-Sen. Joe Biden championed the death penalty and took personal credit for dramatically expanding the number of crimes for which the death penalty could be imposed," the group said in a statement. "However, over the last three decades, troubling errors have emerged surrounding the use of capital punishment. Scores of wrongful convictions of innocent people, dramatic evidence of racial bias, and sometimes torturous executions have come to define the death penalty."
"There are now 200 people who have been proved innocent and released after being sentenced to death in the United States, some facing execution for decades before their exoneration," EJI added. "For every eight people executed in the last 50 years, one innocent person has been identified and set free. It is a shocking rate of lethal error that would likely be unacceptable in any other area of public safety, public health, or government oversight."
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks during the Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 9, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
Jake Johnson
Common Dreams
December 23, 2024
President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, preempting an expected killing spree by President-elect Donald Trump—who ended his first White House term with a string of executions and campaigned on expanding the death penalty.
Biden's decision empties federal death row with the exception of three people: Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The 37 people whose sentences were commuted will receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. One of the individuals whose sentence was commuted was Billie Jerome Allen, who has spent more than half of his life on federal death row after being convicted at 19 years old of a crime he says he did not commit.
"These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder," said Biden.
The president added that he is "more convinced than ever" that the U.S. must "stop the use of" capital punishment at the federal level.
"In good conscience," Biden said, "I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
Chris Geidner, publisher of Law Dork, noted Monday that the commutations "show a different man at the end of his time in elected office than the one who supported greatly expanding the federal criminal justice system during his decades in the Senate."
"It is a record that led to much skepticism when, as a candidate for president in 2020, Biden pledged to eliminate the federal death penalty," Geidner added.
President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, preempting an expected killing spree by President-elect Donald Trump—who ended his first White House term with a string of executions and campaigned on expanding the death penalty.
Biden's decision empties federal death row with the exception of three people: Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The 37 people whose sentences were commuted will receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. One of the individuals whose sentence was commuted was Billie Jerome Allen, who has spent more than half of his life on federal death row after being convicted at 19 years old of a crime he says he did not commit.
"These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder," said Biden.
The president added that he is "more convinced than ever" that the U.S. must "stop the use of" capital punishment at the federal level.
"In good conscience," Biden said, "I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
Chris Geidner, publisher of Law Dork, noted Monday that the commutations "show a different man at the end of his time in elected office than the one who supported greatly expanding the federal criminal justice system during his decades in the Senate."
"It is a record that led to much skepticism when, as a candidate for president in 2020, Biden pledged to eliminate the federal death penalty," Geidner added.
The president's latest use of his clemency power in the waning days of his White House term came after a monthslong pressure campaign by principled opponents of the death penalty, including progressive lawmakers, human rights organizations, religious leaders, and former federal judges.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, applauded Biden's move Monday as "a historic and courageous step in addressing the failed death penalty in the United States—bringing us much closer to outlawing the barbaric practice once again."
"By commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on death row, President Biden has taken the most consequential step of any president in our history to address the immoral and unconstitutional harms of capital punishment," said Romero. "President Biden's actions also remove 37 individuals out of harm's way—as President-elect Trump has a proven penchant and track record of conducting rushed executions. In the last six months of his first term, President Trump executed 13 individuals—more than any administration in 120 years."
"The ACLU is proud to join countless advocates and civil and human rights organizations in thanking President Biden for his leadership and commitment to the highest principles of justice and humanity," Romero added.
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) said Monday that Biden's move "marks what could become a turning point in the history of capital punishment in the United States."
"Thirty years ago, then-Sen. Joe Biden championed the death penalty and took personal credit for dramatically expanding the number of crimes for which the death penalty could be imposed," the group said in a statement. "However, over the last three decades, troubling errors have emerged surrounding the use of capital punishment. Scores of wrongful convictions of innocent people, dramatic evidence of racial bias, and sometimes torturous executions have come to define the death penalty."
"There are now 200 people who have been proved innocent and released after being sentenced to death in the United States, some facing execution for decades before their exoneration," EJI added. "For every eight people executed in the last 50 years, one innocent person has been identified and set free. It is a shocking rate of lethal error that would likely be unacceptable in any other area of public safety, public health, or government oversight."
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