The Trump administration will pursue death sentences against federal defendants “whenever possible,” according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“We’re going to continue to do the right thing. We’re not going to be deterred by political motives,” Bondi said in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Read more: Bondi will seek death against UnitedHealthcare killing suspect
“We’re going to seek the death penalty whenever possible,” she said.
Bondi was responding to criticism of her decision, announced last week, to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione. Mangione is charged in the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year in Manhattan.
If convicted and sentenced to death, Mangione could end up at the high-security U.S. prison in Terre Haute that houses federal death row.
“The president’s directive was very clear: We are to seek the death penalty when possible. And, you know, it hadn’t been done in four years,” Bondi said.
“I was a capital prosecutor. I tried death penalty cases throughout my career. If there was ever a death case, this is one. This guy is charged with hunting down a CEO — a father of two, a married man — hunting him down and executing him,” she said.
Read more: Trump targets prisoners granted clemency by Biden
Trump signed an executive order in January directing U.S. justice officials to reinstate the federal death penalty, reversing a Biden-era moratorium.
Trump’s order also instructed justice officials to ensure confinement conditions remain strict for 37 prisoners whose death sentences were commuted to life without parole by former President Biden. Some of those prisoners received notices that they were being considered for placement in a high-security prison in Colorado. None have been moved so far.
