U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he will seek death penalties for murderers in Washington, as part of fighting what he describes as crime that has gone out of control in the American capital.
“If someone kills someone in Washington, we will seek the death penalty,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting at the White House.
“It is a strong preventive measure and everyone who has heard about it agrees.”
The proposal for the death penalty comes after Republican Trump deployed the National Guard in Democrat-led Washington and earlier this month took federal control of the city’s police department.
Washington suspended the death penalty in 1981.
The American capital has a unique legal status since it is not a state and operates under an agreement with the federal government, which limits its autonomy and gives Congress extraordinary control over local matters.
Trump used this legal space earlier this month to deploy the National Guard in Washington to fight what he described as crime, as well as the large number of homeless people, Rel reports.
The U.S. president boasted on Monday that several days had passed without a single murder in the city and announced that he would take steps to beautify the capital, home to the White House, U.S. Congress, and other major American institutions.
Since Sunday, members of the National Guard have begun patrolling Washington’s streets with weapons.
Trump said he is also considering taking similar measures in other Democrat-led cities, including Chicago, New York, and Baltimore.
