Aug. 26 (UPI) — When someone is accused of murder in the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump wants federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, which is banned there.
“If somebody kills somebody, it’s the death penalty,” Trump told his Cabinet during a Tuesday meeting.
Washington has not imposed the death penalty since 1957, and the Supreme Court nullified the capital’s death penalty in 1972, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The District of Columbia Council repealed the death penalty in 1981, and district residents in 1992 also voted against a ballot referendum that would have reinstated the death penalty.
The high-profile shooting deaths of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington led to federal prosecutors seeking the death penalty for accused murderer Elias Gonzalez, whose case is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and not a local court.
Trump raised the matter of the death penalty in the nation’s capital while meeting with his Cabinet late Tuesday morning and into the afternoon.
National debt forecast lowered by $4 trillion
The president’s tariffs and economic policies have lowered the projected 10-year federal debt following the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The federal debt is projected to be $4 trillion lower over the next 10 years than initially announced, he said.
“Economic security is national security, and we have never been so secure as we have under you,” Bessent told the president.
“You are restoring trust in government” by rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, and blue-collar wages are rising,” Bessent added.
He said inflation has “plummeted” to 1.9%, and gross domestic product is “surging” to 3%.
“You have saved this country by making it the best place in the world to do business again,” Bessent said.
He credited the recent signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law for helping working people.
“I am going to spend Labor Day going from restaurant to restaurant to see how people feel about no tax on tips,” Bessent said.
He also said the federal government is taking in record tariff revenues, will see a bigger “jump” of well over $500 billion to a $1 trillion from August to September.
Farmers also are posting the best harvest on record, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced more power generation plants are being built to make electricity more available for less money, with the help of natural gas to fuel power generation.
Most states are ready to improve educational outcomes
The Education Department continues downsizing by transferring federal oversight to respective states, Education Secretary Linda McMahon told the president and other Cabinet members.
She said states are readying to take control of their respective educational systems.
“We’re bringing education back to the states where you have parents running it,” Trump said in response.
“We want to close up the Washington [Education Department] buildings and sell the buildings to someone else,” he added.
Trump said about 40 states are ready to take full control of their respective public education systems instead of relying on the federal government to provide guidance and oversight.
Those states will challenge many of the world’s top-ranked nations for educational outcomes, the president said, but some still will continue to need federal assistance.
“We’ll have about 10 states what will be disasters,” Trump said. “We’ll have to help them.”
No known illegal crossings in three months
Border enforcement has halted all known illegal crossings over the past three months, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told the president and his cabinet.
Many who illegally entered the United States during the Biden administration have self-deported and were costing between $8,700 and $9,000 each in social program costs, Noem said.
She did not specify the frequency with which those social program costs occurred.
Many have self-deported, which Noem said has saved billions in taxpayer expenses.
Homeland Security also has saved $13 billion in taxpayer dollars by making more vendors work more efficiently.
Noem also said 88% of new jobs went to foreign-born individuals under the Biden administration, but that no longer is the case.
The Cabinet meeting convened at 11 a.m. EDT and concluded about four hours later.
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