Former President Trump pleaded for the death penalty to be imposed on convicted drug dealers in an interview with Fox News, while moderator Bret Baier pointed out that the policy also applied to Alice Johnson, a woman whom Trump granted clemency and for whom he was in a super -Bowl ad promoted his 2020 campaign.
Trump told Baier he believes the country needs to impose tougher penalties on drug dealers to curb crime, including the death penalty. Defending his own crime history, which will come under scrutiny in the 2024 primary, Trump said his parole powers are largely focused on nonviolent offenders.
Trump referred to the Johnson case, whose sentence he commuted in 2018. Johnson has been serving a life sentence since 1996 on charges related to cocaine distribution and money laundering. Johnson was later featured in a Super Bowl ad promoting Trump’s criminal justice reform work.
“But according to your plan, she would be killed,” Baier noted.
“Huh?” Trump replied.
“As a drug dealer,” Baier replied.
“No no no. Oh, underneath? It would depend on the severity,” Trump added.
Addressing the issue further, Trump opined that Johnson would not have committed the same crime if she faced the death penalty.
“She wouldn’t have done it if the death penalty had existed,” Trump said. “In other words, if the death penalty had existed, she would not have been involved in that call.”
Trump’s criminal record has been criticized by some of the other candidates in the GOP campaign, although the former president insists he would crack down on drug dealers and violent criminals if he wins a second term.
Several challengers have argued that Trump’s signature criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act, advocated at the time by Trump and others, which reduced mandatory minimum sentences, expanded credit for well-behaved prisoners seeking shorter sentences, and aimed to reduce relapses.
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