President Donald Trump called for making the death penalty the punishment for murder in the District of Columbia.
Trump argued that the death penalty is a necessary measure to fight crime in the District. This is a significant escalation in the president’s rhetoric since he federalized law enforcement in Washington, D.C.
“Anybody murders something in the capital, capital punishment,” Trump said on Tuesday during a televised cabinet meeting.
“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 and everybody that’s heard it agrees with it,” Trump said.
Trump did not indicate how the federal government would pursue this given that the District of Columbia does not have the death penalty.
Since the start of his second administration, Trump has sought to pursue the death penalty for violent crimes. These efforts have been partially set back by judges declining to seek harsher punishments than what the Biden administration previously sought.
The Supreme Court found the application of death penalty sentences to be unconstitutional in many cases in 1972, forcing states and D.C. to revisit their statutes. Capital punishment was repealed by the D.C. city council in 1981. D.C. residents voted to uphold the council’s decision in a Congress-mandated referendum in 1992.
For the past two weeks, White House officials have activated National Guard troops and federal law enforcement in D.C. streets. While D.C. police numbers show declining crime rates in the capital, Trump has repeatedly claimed that his deployments have been the reason for the sharp decrease in crime.
On Tuesday morning, a 12-day streak with no murders in the District ended after a homicide was reported in Southeast D.C. for the first time since Trump federalized law enforcement in Washington.
“I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country, but we have to do it, we have no choice. So in D.C … if somebody kills somebody like you could have been killed, or lucky you didn’t get killed, it’s the death penalty,” Trump added.
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Editor’s Note: This story was updated with additional reporting.
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