NEW YORK/TERRORISM/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Thursday [11-2-17] called for the man accused of killing eight people and injuring 12 others by driving a truck down a crowded Manhattan bicycle path to be put to death….
The evening before, Mr. Trump also tweeted about the appropriate punishment for Sayfullo Saipov, the 29-year-old Uzbek man charged in the Tuesday attack: ‘SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!’
Mr. Saipov on Wednesday confessed to investigators that he was inspired by Islamic State videos he watched on his phone, authorities said. Investigators said that Mr. Saipov told them he wanted to adorn the rented truck he used in the attack with ISIS flags and also intended to continue the carnage by driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. The deadly rampage followed a blueprint provided by Islamic State to carry out such an attack, according to officials.
Mr. Trump’s tweets follow aggressive rhetoric from the administration about Mr. Saipov, whom the president called an ‘animal’ on Wednesday as he addressed reporters before a cabinet meeting. He said at the time that he was ‘certainly considering’ sending the attacker to the U.S. terrorism detention center at Guantanamo Bay, adding: ‘Send him to Gitmo.’ Mr. Trump also described the U.S. justice system as a ‘joke’ and ‘laughingstock.’ “
-Rebecca Ballhaus, “Trump Calls for Death Penalty for ‘NYC Terrorist’,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 2, 2017 09:38am