by Josh Meyer
USA TODAY- WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump announced Aug. 26 that anyone who kills a person in the nation’s capital will be charged with the death penalty, a vow that will likely ratchet up the already heated national debate about capital punishment.
Trump was talking about reducing crime in Washington, DC, at his Cabinet meeting when he pivoted and said, “If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, DC, we’re going to be seeking the death penalty.”
“And that’s a very strong preventative. And everybody that’s heard it agrees with it,” Trump added. “I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but … we have no choice.”
Trump made restoring the death penalty a major campaign issue last fall, and his Attorney General Pam Bondi has been pursuing more use of the death penalty in federal prosecutions.
