WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Joe Biden's decision to commute sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life in prison without parole has been unequivocally condemned by President-elect Donald Trump, who hopes to expand the federal use of the death penalty.

“(T)o the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky “souls” but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL!” Trump said in a lengthy Christmas Day post.

When Biden took office, he imposed a moratorium on federal executions. When he announced the commutations on Monday, Biden said, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Biden's executive action did not include Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Trump campaigned on expanding the federal use of the death penalty.

“I will urge Congress to ensure that anyone trafficking children across our border receives the death penalty immediately and that includes also for women," Trump said in a campaign video last summer.

In a September Fox News interview, Trump said the death penalty is "the only way" to stop fentanyl from being trafficked into the United States.

A month later during a rally in Wisconsin, Trump called for the death penalty "for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.”

Federal law already provides for the death penalty in cases of first-degree murder and the murder of a law enforcement official.

Ultimately, only Congress can pass laws expanding the federal use of the death penalty. Republicans will have control of both the House and Senate when Trump takes office next month but their majorities won't be large enough to pass major legislation like this without agreement from Democrats.