Topline
President Donald Trump said Tuesday his administration would seek the death penalty for anyone convicted of murder in Washington, D.C., intensifying his anti-crime rhetoric as he pursues a crackdown in major cities.
US President Donald Trump participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 26, 2025. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Trump said the death penalty would be “a very strong preventative” against murders in Washington, D.C., while speaking during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, adding “I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but we have no choice.”
Trump claimed “everybody that’s heard” his idea “agrees with it.”
The death penalty is outlawed for local crime in D.C., and multiple efforts to reinstate it have failed, but federal prosecutors can still pursue the punishment for certain federal offenses.
Trump made the comments while discussing his crime crackdown in Washington, including a federal takeover of the city’s police force and deployment of federal law enforcement officials in other states, and efforts to replicate the initiative in other major cities.
Tangent
Trump’s first administration carried out a record-setting 13 executions. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland, under former President Joe Biden, halted all federal executions pending a Justice Department review of its death penalty policy.
Key Background
Trump has repeatedly called for a reinstatement of the death penalty, writing on Truth Social in December “as soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty” after Biden announced he had commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row. Since taking office, Attorney General Pam Bondi has authorized federal prosecutors to pursue 19 executions, though judges have blocked several of them from moving forward in some cases in which Biden’s administration had sought lesser sentences.
Further Reading
Trump Pledges Death Penalty For Human Traffickers—Here’s What Else He’s Promising If Elected In 2024 (Forbes)
Biden Administration Orders Halt On Federal Executions After Surge Under Trump (Forbes)
Trump Warns: Chicago ‘Probably Next’ For National Guard Takeover (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/08/26/trump-wants-death-penalty-for-dc-murders/