President Trump on Tuesday said he will push for the death penalty in cases of murder in Washington, D.C., amid his crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital.
“Anybody murders something in the capital, capital punishment, capital capital punishment. If somebody kills somebody in the capital — Washington, D.C. — we’re going to be seeking the death penalty and that’s a very strong preventative,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting.
He continued, “And, everybody that’s heard it agrees with it. I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country. But … we have no choice. So, in D.C., in Washington — states are going to have to make their own decision — but if somebody kills somebody, like you could have been killed, very lucky you didn’t get killed, it’s the death penalty.”
He referred to Iris Tao, a journalist affiliated with the right-wing publication The Epoch Times, who earlier in the meeting shared her story of being assaulted in Washington, D.C.
The death penalty is not instituted in the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court nullified capital punishment in 1972 in the District, and efforts to reinstate it in the years since have failed.
The president first sent federal law enforcement into Washington on Aug. 7, and days later he deployed the National Guard to patrol the city.
During the crackdown, there were no apparent homicides reported in the city for 12 days until a man was killed earlier on Tuesday in Southeast Washington. The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement they found a man “unconscious and breathing, suffering from a gunshot wound.”
The White House had previously touted preliminary police data showing no homicides reported since Aug. 14.
The White House on Tuesday said that more than 1,094 arrests have been made since Aug. 7. Eight gang members have been arrested, including from MS-13 and Tren de Aragua; two missing children have been rescued; 115 firearms have been seized; and 49 homeless encampments have been cleared, according to the White House.
D.C. does not have the death penalty, and the D.C. Council repealed the practice in 1981.
Trump ran in his 2024 campaign on restoring use of the death penalty, saying he is in favor of seeking the death penalty for lesser offenses such as drug trafficking.
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