The inauguration on 20 January saw the 78-year-old become president once more.
Since being handed the power, he has wasted no time in getting to work.
For 4 years, a ban on federal executions has been in place, after three defendants remain on federal death row – with Joe Biden converting the 37 others’ sentences to life imprisonment.
In the executive order, Trump blamed Biden for ‘commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 most vile and sadistic r*pists, child m*lesters, and murderers on Federal death row: remorseless criminals who brutalised young children, strangled and drowned their victims, and hunted strangers for sport’.
As well as claiming ‘judges who oppose capital punishment have likewise disregarded the law by falsely claiming that capital punishment is unconstitutional, even though the Constitution explicitly acknowledges the legality of capital punishment’.
The order stated that ‘capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens’.
“Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes,”.
“Our Founders knew well that only capital punishment can bring justice and restore order in response to such evil. For this and other reasons, capital punishment continues to enjoy broad popular support.
“Yet for too long, politicians and judges who oppose capital punishment have defied and subverted the laws of our country.
“At every turn, they seek to thwart the execution of lawfully imposed capital sentences and choose to enforce their personal beliefs rather than the law.”
“The Government’s most solemn responsibility is to protect its citizens from abhorrent acts.
“And my Administration will not tolerate efforts to stymie and eviscerate the laws that authorise capital punishment against those who commit horrible acts of violence against American citizens.”
The order also states the Attorney General ‘shall take all necessary and lawful action to ensure that each state that allows capital punishment has a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection’.
