Trump DOJ announces expansion of federal death penalty to include firing squads and expedited executions

The Department of Justice announced it would expand federal execution methods beyond lethal injection to include firing squads and electric chairs, while also streamlining processes to expedite death penalty cases. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the measures would be "critical to deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones." The policy reinstates the single-drug pentobarbital protocol used during Trump's first term, when 13 federal executions were carried out. The DOJ also released a report blaming "anti-death-penalty activists" for making lethal injection drugs difficult to obtain. This marks a significant reversal of the previous administration's moratorium on federal executions and represents an aggressive expansion of capital punishment at the federal level.

"critical to deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones" — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's statement justifying the expansion of federal execution methods and expedited processes