Trump orders reinstatement of death penalty in Washington, DC
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The US president has signed a memo ordering prosecutors to pursue the death penalty in Washington, DC, expanding federal authority over capital punishment.
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US President Donald Trump holds a signed presidential memorandum on the death penalty in the District of Columbia in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, September 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
US President Donald Trump has signed a memorandum instructing top prosecutors to pursue the death penalty “to the maximum extent possible” in Washington, DC, escalating his efforts to tighten federal control over law enforcement in the capital.
The directive, issued Thursday, was addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi and US Attorney Janine Pirro. It builds on the “criminal emergency” Trump declared in the city in August, stating that enforcement of capital punishment would be a key part of that policy.
Pirro had already suggested that prosecutors could seek the death penalty in the case of Elias Rodriguez, a Chicago man charged with first-degree murder and hate crimes over the May shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members outside the Jewish Museum in Washington.
Speaking at the White House, Bondi said the administration’s push would not be limited to the capital. “Not only are we seeking it in Washington, DC, but all over the country, again,” she said.
Critics warn of federal overreach
The move has drawn concern from death penalty opponents and legal experts who argue it undermines local governance. Ryan Downer, legal director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, said Trump was using a “false pretext of a criminal emergency” to erode the city’s autonomy.
The White House defended the directive, saying it targets only the most serious crimes. “By applying the death penalty against the worst offenders in the nation’s capital, President Trump is demonstrating his resolve to protect our capital city for all Americans who visit or reside there,” the administration said in a fact sheet accompanying the memorandum.
The memorandum outlines two broad avenues for applying the death penalty. First, Bondi and Pirro must fully enforce federal death penalty laws in DC, seeking capital punishment “in all appropriate cases” where the evidence justifies it.
Second, prosecutors are instructed to pursue federal jurisdiction “to the maximum extent practicable” for crimes in Washington that could carry the death penalty under federal law.
Capital punishment
“Anybody murders something in the capital. Capital – capital punishment,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting. “If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, DC, we are going to be seeking the death penalty. That is a very strong preventative, and everybody that has heard it agrees with it. I do not know if we are ready for it in this country, but we have it. We have no choice.”
The Trump death penalty policy would apply specifically to crimes committed within the District of Columbia. Trump emphasized that while this measure is federal in scope, individual states would still be responsible for determining their own policies on capital punishment.
On August 11, Trump announced plans to take federal control of the DC police department and ordered the deployment of the National Guard to the capital.
According to a statement from a US defense official, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed that National Guardsmen stationed in Washington be equipped with weapons. The move comes amid growing concerns about law enforcement's ability to manage crime in the capital.
