Trump criticizes Biden over death sentence commutations

Donald Trump hit out Tuesday at Joe Biden for commuting the sentences of almost every American federal prisoner on death row, as the president-elect prepared to replace the Democrat in the White House.

President Biden, in his final month in office, announced Monday he was converting the death sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates awaiting federal execution to life without the possibility of parole.

They included nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.

"Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country," Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.

"When you hear the acts of each, you won't believe that he did this," he added. "Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can't believe this is happening!"

Biden had imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty but was under pressure to act further before leaving the White House on January 20, amid signals from Republican Trump that he would resume the practice.

Three men were excluded from the move: one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018 and a white supremacist who shot nine Black churchgoers dead in 2015.

"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 Monday.

"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. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."