US President Donald Trump attends a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, US, November 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Donald Trump took aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to commute the sentences of over 500 death row inmates.
Last week, Newsom announced that he had modified 548 death penalty sentences for violent criminals in California to life in prison without parole. The move marked the largest commutation in American history, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Trump, on the other hand, was outraged by the move.
"Gavin Newscum’s halting the Death Penalty for all 563 California Death Row inmates, some of the worst cold blooded (sic) murderers to have ever lived on the face of the Earth, is a disaster for Justice in America," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. "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 family members of those who were so viciously killed are, rightfully, devastated. Hopefully this decision will be overturned!"