Donald Trump Threatens Death Penalty for Nancy Guthrie Kidnappers if Victim Is Harmed
On Monday, President Trump warned that anyone involved in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie must release her unharmed or risk facing the strongest federal legal consequences.
Speaking briefly by phone with The Post, Trump said he would want the Justice Department to pursue the death penalty if the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” host Savannah Guthrie is killed. Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home outside Tucson on Feb. 1.
Trump signals the harshest federal action, including possible death penalty charges, against suspects in the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother as search operations intensify in Arizona.
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Trump emphasized that if she is found dead, those responsible would face “very, very severe — the most severe” federal punishment. When questioned about whether this meant federal prosecutors would seek capital punishment, Trump confirmed the possibility, saying, “The most, yeah — that’s true.”
On Feb. 4, Trump called Savannah Guthrie directly to offer federal resources for the investigation. Last week, the FBI recovered alarming images and video showing a masked man at the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s suburban home.
The president has largely stayed quiet publicly while authorities continue their urgent efforts to locate Nancy Guthrie, whom investigators believe could still be alive.
During the weekend, officials deployed aircraft over the desert using specialized Bluetooth detection technology in hopes of picking up a signal from her pacemaker.
Federal charges are typically filed in major cases, particularly when there is interstate involvement or violations of federal law. While Arizona maintains the death penalty, many of the state’s 109 death row inmates have remained there for many years.
Arizona has carried out only two executions since 2022, partly due to a nearly two-year suspension ordered by the state’s Democrat-led government, which ended in late 2024.
At the federal level, capital punishment is generally reserved for high-profile crimes. Notable examples include Boston Marathon attacker Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Pittsburgh synagogue gunman Robert Bowers, and racist mass murderer Dylann Roof.
Former President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 inmates on federal death row, excluding Tsarnaev, Bowers, and Roof. Trump officials now plan to relocate the remaining inmates to a federal supermax prison where they will serve their sentences under strict conditions.
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