Trump Administration Files More Death Penalty Cases Than Entire First Term

Summary

Less than six months into his second term, Donald Trump's Justice Department has already filed more federal death penalty prosecutions than it did across all four years of his first administration. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche have driven the push, seeking capital punishment in cases that cross state lines into jurisdictions that have abolished the death penalty entirely. The acceleration is striking in its speed: what took four years the first time has been surpassed in a matter of months. Separately, a 927-page financial disclosure filed Tuesday with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics shows Trump earned more than $2.2 billion last year, with over $1 billion of that coming from crypto-related businesses since his return to the White House in January. The document lays out a sprawling global portfolio of investments and licensing deals that critics say blurs the line between presidential authority and personal financial gain. Together, the two disclosures paint a picture of a second term moving faster and further than the first on multiple fronts, from criminal justice to personal enrichment. Both are drawing scrutiny from legal scholars and ethics watchdogs who argue the pace and scale are without recent precedent.