Gavin Newsom said 548 people on death row ‘will die in prison but not by our hand,’ and Trump just called it a ‘disaster for justice’

President Donald Trump criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom after the latter announced plans to commute California’s death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, describing the move as a “disaster for justice in America.” In a post on Truth Social, Trump emphasized that the decision disregarded victims’ families and prevented the legal process from running its course.

“Gavin Newscum’s halting the Death Penalty for all 563 California Death Row inmates, some of the worst cold blooded murderers to have ever lived on the face of the Earth, is a disaster for Justice in America,” Trump wrote. “Many of these names, people who have killed, over and over again, can’t believe their luck in having a Governor so incompetent and insensitive that he would not let the long and winding legal system prevail,” the president continued. “The family members of those who were so viciously killed are, rightfully, devastated. Hopefully this decision will be overturned!”

Newsom announced his intention to commute the death sentences of 548 people, 529 men and 19 women, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. If approved by the California Supreme Court, it would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history, reducing the national death row population by nearly 30 percent, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

California hasn’t carried out an execution in two decades

The governor explained his decision in a public letter, saying he believes capital punishment conflicts with California’s values and threatens the foundations of its legal system. “I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” he wrote. Newsom described life sentence without parole as “the most severe punishment I can lawfully impose and the state of California can ethically enforce,” adding: “These offenders will die in prison but not by our hand.”

uploads/2019/03/3.13.19-EO-N-09-19.pdf) on executions.
Replace: California has not executed anyone since 2006, even though it has the nation’s largest death row population. Newsom formalized that pause with a 2019 executive order establishing a moratorium on executions.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche commented on Newsom’s decision during an unrelated Justice Department briefing on Thursday, calling the move “unfortunate.” Blanche also compared Newsom’s action to former President Joe Biden’s commutation of 37 out of 40 federal death-row inmates on December 23, 2024.

“That happened during the end of President Biden’s administration as well,” Blanche told reporters. “He commuted the sentences of a lot of federal guys on death row. Not all of them, but a lot of them. It’s unfortunate.” While recognizing that state law differs from federal law and that most governors have clemency authority, Blanche said he agreed with Trump on the need for capital punishment for certain crimes.

“I think that President Trump has talked a lot about the need for capital punishment, especially with certain types of crimes and certain types of murder,” Blanche said. “And I very much agree with President Trump on that.” He concluded: “I feel badly for the families, the victims, the families of the victims that had justice served, according to the laws, and now have a different result.”